Harry Potter and his Princesses
by Gabriel Herrol
Summary: Harry James Potter is what is now known as a World Jumper. Accompanied by his gorgeous but deadly mother and his many lovelies, they sow chaos, mayhem and disorder everywhere they went. Who said the Legendary Hero chosen by the Goddesses of Hyrule had to be a paragon of virtue and couldn't have some very nice benefits on the side?
1. Prologue

**Harry Potter and his Princesses**

 **Details of the Challenge and Prologue**

 **Author's Notes:** _Yes, another story. I just couldn't help myself. After brainstorming with my new friend_ _ **DalkonCledwin**_ _, to which I give plenty of kudos since he let me borrow some of his own ideas and concepts, I just_ _ **had**_ _to write this. It will be based on my own challenge of Harry Potter raised by the Twiliis, originally a simple crossover between Harry Potter and the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess._

 _But to make it more challenging, interesting and all around better, there will be heavy usage of elements and characters from the Nasuverse (TYPE-MOON), the Legend of Zelda Franchise and also of High School DxD. Now, I'm warning you ahead of time, it's going to be a harem pairing and it's not always going to be harmonious! The girls won't always get along with each other's and Harry won't always be able to juggle them adequately._

 **Addendum:** _The differences between a Magician, a Magus and a Wizard are not only on a philosophic level but also on how exactly they cast their magic. A Magician needs to learn his family's magic circle or create its own circle_ _ **before**_ _being able to use his or her imagination to cast adequately. A Magus needs to awaken their magic circuits (It hurt like a bitch.) before learning the family craft or inventing their own. Their approach to the Mystical Arts is the most scientific of the three._

 _A Wizard is a human born with the power to manipulate their innate magic just like the other two, but to control it adequately and for official schooling, they need a focus. Wand less magic and circle less magic are possible, but it's not reliable for anything delicate and/or precise. On the contrary, focus less magic is really great for anything extra destructive. Circuits less magic is biologically impossible without a magical core._

 _What the Wizards call Squibs can learn Magus Style magecraft if they are determined enough, but won't ever become a top class spell caster. All three classes of spell casters can learn magic from the other classes if they are dedicated enough, but it's frowned upon by the Magician associations, the Clock Tower/ the Magus Association and the International Confederation of Wizards. Mostly because the higher ups don't like each other's and it can become a very tiring battle of jurisdiction to decide to which institution/community's laws said spell caster must answer to._

 _The Wizarding Unforgivable Curses are only deemed so in the U.K without a special authorization and heavily restricted everywhere else. Also, all three classes of human spell casters are bound to the International Statute of Secrecy or a variant of it that can be resumed to this: Nobody who doesn't need to know_ _ **should**_ _be told about magic._

 **Universal Disclaimer:** _I do not own Harry Potter, the Legend of Zelda franchises, the_ _ **TYPE-MOON**_ _franchise and its subdivisions and neither High School DxD. Please support the original releases. Thank you._

 **Big Warning:** _There is a rather strong possibility for this story to describe incestuous relations. If it isn't you cup of tea, feel free to not read this story or skip those interactions. You now have been warned and future flamers and/or haters_ _ **will be**_ _thoroughly ignored._

 **Last Edit: May 19 2017.**

 **The Challenge itself.**

What if the Twilight Realm got closer to the ''Light'' Realm as millennia passed and the Kingdom of Hyrule is now just an old legend? What if that fateful Halloween night when Voldemort marked Harry as his equal, the magical backlash of the rebounding Killing Curse opened a portal to the Twilight Realm and baby Harry was catapulted into it? A Harry Potter raised by the Twilis.

 **Requirements:**

\- Harry is able to stay human in the Twilight Realm. _Dalkon and I already outlined the source of this capacity._

\- Harry is raised with love and care; I'm really tired of Abused! Harry stories. _Yes, this Harry will know what love is. A bit too much sometimes even! XD_

\- Harry _**MUST**_ come back to the Light Realm to deal with Voldemort. When he does it is and how he does it your decision but do try to be original. _The Prophecy is, sadly, real. Neither can live while the other survives._

\- Dumbledore knows that Harry is alive somehow, somewhere. He doesn't know where to look but somehow, something, maybe something like an intuition or like a gut feeling, is telling him that Harry will be fine. _Good guy Dumbledore in this story. Flawed and imperfect, just like everybody else._

\- Harry is able to use his own brand of magic without a wand and Twili Shadow magic with a certain ease, but seems to have better results with Shadow magic than ''Light'' magic. Probably for a lack of a proper focus for his magic. _Alright._

\- _**No Male Slash for the main pairing.**_ _Harry is going to almost drown in oestrogen lol XD_

\- Midna or another Twili companion must be able to use and eventually be the master of the Fused Shadows. (It's too bad that this power doesn't have more screen time in the game. In the context I'm looking for, it would be a really nice fight scene against the Basilisk or against another giant beastie.) _As if we wouldn't include those splendidly powerful relics! XD_

\- A Twili Healer must recognize Harry's curse scar as something related as Soul Magic and sometime in his life in the Twilight Realm, the Horcrux is removed, destroyed or absorbed, it's your decision. (Something original here would be great, I'm really tired too of Martyr! Harry Potter stories.) _Yup, Harry shouldn't have it for long._

\- The Shadow portals can override anti-apparition wards but it's not as precise as apparition is. _This too was thought off._

 **Recommended:**

\- A remake of Wolf Link and Imp Midna travelling together with Midna or another Twili in disguise in Imp form and Harry in his animagus form(Your choice for the animal, but he better be something big enough for that, like again a wolf, a coyote, a jungle cat or a giant eagle. A silver back gorilla like Kerchak in Disney's Tarzan could work nicely too.) _Two words;_ _Animagus transformation._

\- Gentleman/Old Fashioned clothes and Manners: I see this Harry raised in a certain old fashioned way, with a cool, polite and crisp temperament with strangers and/or important people. _He will be trained on how to deal with politicians and various important people._

\- Hero chosen by the Gods! Harry. (Maybe not dress him with the green garb of the Hero, but something similar, maybe with a kick-ass trench coat and Wind Waker Ganondorf style twin swords that can slide in and out of his sleeves.) _This too is already fleshed. ^_^_

\- Involuntary Lady Killer! Harry! : I can see that as well, with his ancient but polite manners, helpful behaviour and just a great personality, he breaks hearts left and right in school(If you make him go to Hogwarts of course) without knowing. Thus a bigger fan club! Poor Harry! And Midna or his Twili companion can tease him a lot with that later. _Not too sure on the Involuntary part, but he is going to be a heart throb for teenage girls everywhere._

\- Giving Harry the Quest to find where is the Master Sword resting place and sees if he can claim the Blade of evil's Bane as his own. _Yup, a Legendary Hero needs a Legendary Sword._

 **Forbidden:**

-M/M pairing as said in the recommended section.

\- Wuss! Harry. He has been raised as a warrior/battle mage/diplomat, Come on people, he won't take shit from anybody.

\- Harry/Ginny, I have nothing against Ginny but I want something different from canon.

 **Well, contact me for more info or if you want to take the challenge.**

 **Resume about the Dead Apostles Ancestors:** _The twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors are basically the nobility of all Vampire Kind and are ranked not only by their level of strength but also by the danger they can pose to Humanity. Their powers surpass exponentially those of the more common breed found in the margin of Wizarding Society and are also immune to the common weaknesses, such as going too long without feeding, holy relics, swift water, silver, garlic and sunlight._

 _They do not need to sleep in a coffin either. Some likely do, just for the fun of it. They are classed as "Phantasmal beings", which gave them very advanced shape shifting powers, thus they can alter their body shapes at will but have a favoured and/or a default form. Magic is part of their very beings, thus they are able to use all three main branches of Human magic without drawbacks. Their supernatural physical capacities permit them to fight against Servants (Heroic Spirits) on more or less equal grounds._

 _They possess an extremely durable body imbued with a natural resistance to magic, similar but higher than Giants._

 _Some are more psychopathic than others and many members of the original group had been either executed or sealed away by the Church before extensive "reforms" were made into the organization. Most of them tend to respect the_ _International Statute of Secrecy_ _if only to not have to deal with belligerent Wizards, Magicians or/and Magi each time they go out in public._

 _Dead Apostles Ancestors can reproduce sexually but it is a rare event since most are too obsessed with their passions to settle down long enough to raise a child. Their bio-vampirism is only contagious at will. The Ancestor must want to change his/her victim in the first place and their fledglings are eternally loyal to their sire._

 **Prologue**

Lily Potter nee Evans was on the verge of a full panic attack. She was only holding it together for her only son's sake. Lily was a gorgeous young woman of twenty one with long thick dark red hair falling to her shoulders, a fair complexion and gorgeous almond shaped emerald green eyes. She cursed under her breath, fortifying the nursery as much as she could without her wand. She had allowed herself to leave it in the kitchen and lowered her guard. They were supposed to be safe! She should have held the secret, but no, her husband just had to play a prank on the Dark Lord!

Now look where it got them!

Out loud she said to herself

"If we're getting out of this alive, Pettigrew is a dead man walking!"

Downstairs she could hear the sound of spell fire, her husband was shouting and Voldemort laughing manically, well until he got sloppy and a spell went through his guard, injuring and hurting him badly judging by the inhuman howl coming from downstairs, floating through the floor. Letting her magic flow out of her as best as she could; she then tried to overpower the wards keeping the window shut and unbreakable. Oh, she was terrified for their son's life, for her husband's and also for her own life, but for Harry, she had to be strong! Her baby boy needed her!

Frustrated by her lack of progress and hearing James bellow in pain since You-Know-Who had tendency to avenge the pain and humiliation done to him seven-fold, she snarled out loud and _something_ happened! Her green eyes went wine red temporarily and a strength she didn't know about started coursing in her veins! With a mighty punch, she finally overpowered part of the wards and the window broke in pieces! Then her faint hope of getting out of this deathtrap alive with her family went out like a blown candle at Voldemort's next spell

"AVADA KEDAVRA **!** "

Lily couldn't help it, she started to sob. The love of her life was dead. Then panic overwhelmed her sorrow when she heard the stairs creak. He was coming here! Then Harry started to talk in his crib where she had put him as soon as she had closed the door

"Mama, where Dada? Hawwy scared…Want Dada…"

Lily was quick to shush her little one

"Shush sweetheart, Dada…Dada is away…"

She didn't manage to explain more before the door of the nursery blew open. Lily shrieked in fear, not for her safety, but for her son's. Tall and menacing, wearing black robes and a black hooded cloak, a disfigured visage with red eyes glared at her. Voldemort was in the room with them and she couldn't do anything against it! She could grab Harry and jump through the window and apparate in mid air, but the Dark Lord had always been an unnaturally quick caster.

She would be gunned down before she could manage to muster the concentration required to teleport away.

Something was breaking the silence; it was the sound of his rasp breathing and his blood falling on the ground. James had gone down fighting, since unlike her, he had his wand on hand when the Dark Lord made intrusion in their home. He was bleeding heavily on his non dominant arm due to a very big bite mark from a transfigured animal and his torso had hooves marks having almost caved in his rib cage. With everything she had in her, she stood in front of her child, her arms extended as far as they could go. She was ready to lay down her life for her son, even if she wished she could live to raise him.

The self styled Dark Lord Voldemort wasn't having a good evening, even if it had started pleasantly enough. A turncoat of Dumbledore's Pathetic Order of the Phoenix had given him the Secret of the Potters' location recently and after much planning and debate, he decided that a Halloween social call would be perfect. He just couldn't wait to get rid of one mighty torn into his side. James Potter had fought well; Voldemort could at least give credit where it was due. Perhaps even too well, since the Transfiguration prodigy had managed to draw blood and wound him before he put the other man down for good with trusty ol' Killing Curse.

Now, he had no intention to hurt the woman, much. Severus had been such a dedicated follower and Lord Voldemort, magnanimous, rewarded good service. Even a being such as he could see the Mudblood's beauty. She was talented too. Lord Voldemort rewarded talent. Deciding to do what he came to do he stated with his raspy voice

"Step aside! Step aside silly girl and you get to live another day!"

Lily was incensed! Stepping aside?! Sacrificing the fruit of her womb, the result of the love she shared with her husband?! For a life with no more meaning without her loved ones? Never!

Deep within Lily Evans Potter, her true self was starting to awaken. Sometimes it took over when her more pacifist self was in mortal danger, like during her last duel against Bellatrix Lestrange. Too bad the divide between both Lily's personas was still too strong to make use of her true powers at will. A situation that would soon change though…

"Not Harry! Please not Harry! Take me, kill me instead!"

She pleaded.

"Stand aside you silly girl! Stand aside now!"

Was his answer.

"Have mercy! Not Harry, not Harry!"

Lily would not back down. She would not let this monster near her son!

" **MOVE! OUT OF THE WAY!"**

" **NO!** Not my son! I will not let you harm him! He's innocent!"

She was resolute in this. She would take death before allowing that monster to harm her baby!

Voldemort, furious and achy all over, snarled with barely contained rage and with a quick movement of his wand, he shot his second Killing Curse since his arrival. He had offered her to live three times and she had refused! Severus would just have to get over it!

"AVADA KEDAVRA **!"**

While Lily could have easily dodged the green jet of light, even with all her fears and doubts, she stayed resolute. Her last breath was used to call her son's name.

" **HARRY!"**

Then like a puppet with its strings cut, she fell to the ground, her body still thrashing in its death throes as the Killing Curse sent a signal to her brain to shut down her body, for good. The ignorant purebloods though that the Killing Curse was removing the soul from the body. In this situation, it was a very fortunate boon. Had Voldemort known what would happen, he would have used other means of ensuring Lily's demise.

Voldemort casually kicked Lily's body out of the way, approaching the crib where the teary eyed boy was looking alternatively at him and at his mother's body. The Dark Lord had no shame to admit that he would do everything in his power to attain his goals. He had sacrificed too much to back down and frankly, he never regretted it or looks back. On the other hand, he never enjoyed torturing children since he became an adult. Hence why his faithful had for permanent consign to kill any unworthy children quickly.

Better the quick oblivion of Death than the atrocities some monsters worse than him he held the leashes of could and would inflict on them. It was why he decided to finish this quickly. Contrary to an adult, there was just no challenge in torturing information and secrets out of children. There was no need to boast to someone who couldn't understand. He was feeling a bit melancholic tonight, so why not send the young one to his parents quickly? Pointing his wand on the forehead of the prophesied one, for the third time this evening, he pronounced the incantation of the Killing Curse.

"Avada Kedavra."

Just as the green light formed on the tip of his wand, an out of this world feminine voicewas heard saying from nowhere and everywhere at the same time

" **By the Crimson Moon and my Black Blood, I, Altrouge Brunestud, accept your contract. Our child shall not be harmed by this man! "**

The bolt of energy flew out of the Voldemort's wand and impacted on the toddler's forehead. Instead of killing the child instantly, the spell rebounded after the boy's skin flashed with a gold coloured light, flying back towards its caster at the speed of a freight train. Needless to say, Voldemort didn't manage to dodge and the combined energy blew straight through the wards and the nursery's wall, leaving a gaping hole. Voldemort's body had been turned to ashes, leaving his wand and his clothes on the ground. Strangely, Lily's body was completely untouched! Harry was also surprisingly still alive, bawling his heart out. His forehead was now sporting a jagged cut in the form of a lightning bolt. Then some sort of spectre came out of the ashes of the Dark Lord, screaming in anguish, fleeing in panicked pain.

Then something never before seen happened! A tear into reality formed some sort of shadowy portal visible just outside the hole in the wall. A thin black beam of energy shot from the portal and engulfed the bawling in pain and fright toddler in ethereal shadowy ropes, doing nothing at first glance. Then a golden light coming from nowhere illuminated the dark night, forming a strange golden triangle mark on the little boy's right hand!

The mark stayed illuminated even as Harry was seemingly disintegrated into shadow particles and suck up by the strange portal, leaving no living beings into the cottage. Well, that was the case, until Lily's body started to show new signs of life by first standing up and then _changing_. Within the woman that was Lily Potter's mindscape, two very different persons where staring at each other's. A pale teenager girl with black hair and red eyes was facing an adult woman with red hair and green eyes. Both stayed silent and then they embraced each others, merging.

Outside in the Real World, Lily's body changed a bit. First of all, she awoke to her real self, Altrouge Brunestud, the Vampire Princess of the Dead Apostles and the #9 of the Dead Apostles Ancestors. Then her mortal witch body took back her true nature. While she was still magical, her powers were greatly enhanced. Having getting used to a mature body; Altrouge decided to stay close to her mortal form, merely correcting the flaws. When she opened her eyes, they were no longer emerald green though, but a wine red.

Taking sight of everything around her, it seems that something was missing. Frowning, she waited for her mortal memories to come back. It was a good thing that the spell she was hit with didn't target the soul or else she would not have been able to revive herself. When the merger was completed, her wine eyes flew wide open, since she had closed them to concentrate.

Harry! Her baby boy! She had a son as a mortal?! She knew that her husband was dead and while part of her had loved him, Altrouge couldn't condone his decision to not move away from the war when they found of she was pregnant. She had tried to make him see reason, but he didn't heed her advice. Now, see the fiasco they were just in! James' pride cost him his life. She had survived due to being in reality a Dead Apostle Ancestor. Now where was her baby? It was then that Altrouge saw the still open Twilight portal, even if she wasn't sure what it was. In walking toward the reality tear, she walked on her attacker's wand and snapped it by accident. Oh well, no big deal. Using her mystical talents, she managed to piece back what happened.

Voldemort came in to kill Harry. He played with James too much and got a few painful hits until he finally disposed of the man of the house. As a mortal, she had been unable to use much focused magic without her wand and the intruder had sealed the house against every possible attempts to leave it. He had intended for the cottage to be their tomb. He had offered her to live, three times. She had refused also three times. The number three was a magical number, then a contract of protection was sealed and the killing spell aimed at her child had rebounded.

Altrouge as Lily had unknowingly set up an old ritual to protect a life in mortal danger by sacrificing her own. She would have to research the phenomenon first before making any more assumptions.

Now, she was in an impasse. On one hand she should just jump into the portal that had taken her son from her but in the other, she should make sure to take care of the traitorous rat. Lily and Altrouge weren't much different on this point, they did not suffer treason. Then, the roaring of a motorcycle was heard. Her mortal memories were telling her that Sirius Black, her now deceased husband's best friend and son's Oath sworn godfather, had such contraception and charmed it to fly. By his anguished cry, he had just found her husband's body.

She now knew that if she did not intervene, he would likely do something reckless and she felt that a male influence in her son's life would do well. So to not freak him out, she willed her eyes to go back to green and let a few superficial wounds appear on her body. She would have to go shopping though. Altrouge may have accepted to look like an adult, but she would **not** dress as an old maid! What was her mortal shell thinking?

In the end, Altrouge and Sirius jumped into the portal. Once they landed in a strange world illuminated by a half light, the portal they came through shut completely and Sirius was immediately forced into his animagus form. Now to find her baby boy in this strange place…


	2. Chapter 1

**Harry Potter and his Princesses**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Author's Notes:** _Well, let's work on this one now. I got to flesh it better though. I got too impatient and rushed the prologue a bit too much. Anyway, in this story, Harry's childhood will likely have a few chapters before jumping to his late teens. While a half Dead Apostle Ancestor kid would be cute, I don't want to delay too much to get to the good stuff. Said good stuff will be how Harry build and handle his relationships and how he handle the troubles that follow him._

 _He is a Potter after all; he doesn't need to go looking for trouble. Trouble finds him on its own. This is the famous love/hate relationship between the Potter Family and Murphy's Law. *sigh*_

 _While Harry and company are bound to travel between the parallel worlds thanks to the Twilight Realm being in the stark middle of both just like Hyrule, they will have their headquarters on the world in which the country reside. You can only travel for so long after all before the need to go home make itself known. Home is where the heart is as the saying goes. Well, let's go see the stats. We have_ _ **8**_ _Reviews,_ _ **76**_ _followers,_ _ **61**_ _Favourites,_ _ **3**_ _C2 Communities and_ _ **770**_ _views._

 _Thank you everyone. Now let's get this show on the road!_

 **Addendum:** _For_ __ _my peace of mind and due to lack of info on the subject; in my story, Twilis will age at the same rate Humans and Hylians do until they reach their twenties. At that age, they start to age much slower than the rest and can live up for thousands of years. A quirk in their biology also keeps them infertile until they reach their twenty fifth birthdays. The Twilis can reproduce_ _ **only**_ _with other Twilis, Hylians and magical Humans._

 _Most of the time; the child born from Twili/Hylian, Twili/Magical Human will take more from his Twili parent unless the Human or Hylian in question possess something very out of the ordinary in their genetic code that is worth adding to the offspring's._

 **Last Edit: May 19 2017.**

Altrouge had to admit that she felt somewhat amused. That dimension was something she never saw before, but anything that could silence the _Great_ Casanova Sirius Black was not so bad in her books. Stuck in his Animagus form and unable to change back, it was like having the pleasure of his company without him opening his big mouth and saying stupidities. Sirius' sense of humour was low and lower. You could only go for so long at hearing lewd or Serious/Sirius jokes without snapping. The dog wasn't enjoying things as much as the Apostle though, if his whining was anything to go by.

Talking about dogs, it made her think about her beloved Primmy. It had been more than twenty years since she last saw her beloved Primate Murder. Even as Lily Evans Potter, she had kept her affinity for canines of all sorts. After all, how else could she have managed to train Padfoot and tame Moony? She just couldn't wait to introduce her beloved son to her adored pet. But for that, she had to find him first. And she would have to make sure Primmy understood that Harry wasn't a snack.

Asking Sirius, she said

"Padfoot, can you get Harry's scent from here?"

The Grim Animagus was not feeling all that well to be honest, but he knew he had to suck it up right now. It had been a very rough evening for him, what with everything that had happened. It started with the very bad feeling in his gut after finding Peter's hideout deserted with no sign of fight, then he had flew like mad to the cottage of his brother in all but blood and the woman he came to love as a sister only for him to find it in ruins at his arrival with his flying motorbike.

Then it was the horrible shock of seeing his sworn brother's cooling body between the door and the stairway, bloodied and totally inanimate. Sirius had howled in despair at what he saw! James was dead! Peter had betrayed them! Then suddenly, hope! Lily's voice came from the nursery upstairs! She was alive! Was Harry alright? Naturally Sirius had bounded up the stairs three at time only to stumble upon a wrecked room with a wall all but blown up, a pile of ash with a broken wand and a deserted crib.

Lily was there, oddly calm in such a situation, seeing that her husband was dead, her baby was missing and she had survived one more encounter with the Dark idiot himself!

Then after assuring him that she was more than fine, she pointed to him what seemed to be a tear into the fabric of reality, hovering near the hole in the wall. Somehow, she managed to convince him to follow her in it since she was sure that her baby had been sucked into what seemed to be some kind of door going who know where. Thus leading them to his current situation; stuck as Padfoot in this strange place of half lights. And Lily's scent had also changed! It was much more potent and much scarier than it was before!

It was something he would likely talk with her about it once he managed to go back in human form.

But now was not the time for those questions, they needed to find Harry. Pronglet needed them! So Padfoot put his nose to the ground and tried to find any traces of his Godson. Everything else could wait. Sirius would mourn the passing of his brother in all but blood when the little tyke would be in security in his mother's arms; not before.

On the other side of the Twilight Realm, a beautiful woman with light blue skin and orange eyes that had dark tribal markings around her arms and thighs was on the move, answering to a strange call coming from a cohort of soldiers in a routine patrol near a zone where the Realm's reality fabric was noticeably thinner, thus the possibility of Portals forming naturally were rather high. The previously mentioned woman also had long luxurious orange hair in a very elaborate hairdo that was kept in place by a barrette, and wore what appeared to be a dark robe and a loincloth.

With the centuries passing through, the parallel world that the Goddesses had banished her tribe into had ceased to be a prison soon after her return after Zant's ultimate defeat. It was their recompense for helping the Hero chosen by the Gods in defeating Ganondorf and in restoring the peace in both Realms.

While Hyrule was somewhat harder to visit, what with the medieval mindset of most towns' inhabitants to burn at the stake the monsters and her, in insight, foolish decision in shattering the Mirror of Twilight (The Zora and Goron tribes could care less if the Twili were gallivanting around or not), other versions of the Light Realm were more easily accessible and glamours also helped a long way in their exploring, well for those born with the ability to stand the light though. Midna was the ruler of the Twili, the Twilight Princess and the most powerful Mage in the entire Realm.

If her specially trained forces were calling her even with the help of one of the Mages on duty that she had personally trained, then it must mean that something drastic must had happened, which is why she was currently hurrying.

Once arrived at destination, she saw the patrol, most members were still in alert, with one hand on their sheathed short swords, standing guard into a circle, but the two women among the eight soldiers still on guard forming this ten persons patrol unit were currently sitting on the ground, making strange noises, strange smiles and were they _cooing_ at something? Midna had no need to make her presence known since the soldiers saw her coming a mile away. The leader of the patrol stepped forward, saluted and reported without being prompted

"I am glad to see you, your Majesty. We were patrolling this end of the Realm since it was the sector assigned to us and everything was just fine until something much unexpected happened. The fabric of reality distorted and a Portal leading to an unknown Light Realm opened on its own. Our squad's Mage was about to close it, but _something_ came through before she could do it. Your Grace, you will not believe it. I saw it with my own two eyes and I still have trouble believing it! A Light dweller child was somehow absorbed into the unstable Portal and was rematerialized here, hale and hearty in our Realm!"

Midna blinked in incomprehension at the information her Sergeant just gave her, then answered once she regained her wits

"Sergeant, if the spirit of the child is still here, why your assigned Mage did not reopen a Portal to send him straight back? Light dwellers do not keep their bodies in the Twilight Realm; it is common knowledge after all. If we don't hurry to return them to their home Realm, they risk staying a spirit for all eternity. It is now the standard procedure the Advisory Council and I put in place after the Usurper Zant's Rebellion was put down; you know that."

She finished somewhat reproachfully.

The Sergeant continued after ignoring the scolding tone of his Sovereign

"My Lady, I'm afraid you do not understand completely the situation, please allow me to explain. The Light dweller in question is not in a spiritual form at all, but really is a human boy made of flesh and blood! He is right there, on the knees of Anya, our Tracking Specialist! As for the procedure in those cases, we did not have time to do anything, since our unit's Mage, Cibelle, barely managed to catch the child before he could hit the ground at terminal velocity since he rematerialized high into the air! "

Gesticulating in a way that somehow made it easier to understand what he was explaining, he then continued

"Furthermore, since the Portal was unstable to begin with and was somehow opened by unknown means from the other side, we were unable to determine which specific Realm the boy came from before it closed on its own. The boy also had a rather nasty gash on the forehead when we found him, so we cleaned it as much as we could and bandaged it once we managed to sooth him down, but field medicine is not good for a toddler. The child will need to be examined by a real Healer sooner than later, Highness."

What Midna was hearing was supposed to be entirely impossible. Humans, Hylians, Zoras and Gorons _**always**_ became incorporeal souls when they stepped into the Twilight Realm! It was something as sure as the fact you had to breathe oxygen to live! Well there was one particular exception at the rule that she knew of, but she wasn't certain if it was possible so soon after the passing of the last recorded exception in question. The Princess was rather quick to move towards the women if only see for herself what her Officer had just told her.

With a determined gait, she approached the two younger women who were both sitting on the ground, cooing and playing with the child. And by the lack of cries and tears or other common reactions of fear, Midna could adequately guess that the kid was not at all afraid of their strange appearances. It was a good thing, since the Twilight Princess had quite a temper on her and a panicked child was not something she would have liked dealing with.

Even if she had technically accepted her Sergeant's words as truth, The Twilight Sovereign was still taken very off guard when she came face to face with a human toddler with wild raven black hair and almond shaped glowing emerald green eyes. Yep, there was effectively a human boy; the round ears, the general shape and pink skin were both obvious clues about what he was and his gender, in the Twilight Realm. A toddler more precisely, not much older than two years old, likely a bit younger, from what she could actually guess.

Not that Midna was actually a font of knowledge in children, since she was still unmarried at her age (Don't ask, it's not worth having her slam a Shadow Bolt somewhere very painful for only trying to satiate your curiosity * _shivers_ *) and never had any offspring. Well, there was that scare a while ago after a wild few weeks with a male friend, but it was just that, a scare.

You see, the Twili as a race were very long lived, able to live for thousands of years if they were not killed by blade, poison and/or sickness. In exchange for this longevity though, they were usually not very fertile. Due to their low birthrates, children of all sorts were considered sacred to the highest point in their society's eyes. Voluntarily endangering a child's life was bound to give the culpable a one way ticket to the gallows by their laws.

It was how Zant managed to corner her and curse her into an Imp form during his Rebellion leading to his false rule, by threatening to feed the children to the Beasts her People had became under the influence of his vile magic, since he had taken many of them hostage in his bid of finally taking over the Palace.

The Tracking Specialist and the Mage, Anya and Cibelle, were fraternal twin sisters, with a skin a tad lighter than the princess, yellow eyes and red hair of various lenght. Cibelle's hair was in a pixie cut while Anya's was left long and wild. Midna was not one to stand on ceremony when it was not needed, so she quickly waved the girls' attempts at getting up and bow in respect. She sat down on the ground near them without any ceremony, and then began a silent staring contest with the boy.

Two eyes with yellow sclera and sunset red pupils stared into two other eyes with white sclera and glowing emerald green pupils. Then the boy broke eye contact first and his little hand seized a lock of Midna's hair, pulling a bit. Not enough to hurt mind you; but enough for her to notice. The boy then said in a tongue she hadn't heard in a very long time

"Pwetty! Hair pwetty! "

Midna had to rack her brains as to where she heard that language and the lack of correct pronunciation didn't help, but you couldn't really blame a child that young for that. While she wasn't exactly sure what the child was babbling about, Midna knew by his body language that he was fascinated by her hair. Well, a girl could get used to be the centre of attention. It was at this point that Cibelle said

"I've rarely seen Humans before, but this one is very cute, Highness. He will grow up to be a real heartbreaker for sure! I'm not sure if I understand his language, but he seems to be already quite taken with your hair."

Midna had an amused smile at hearing that, having already guessed, but she wanted to trade banter a bit, thus she shot back with false vanity in her voice

"Well, the boy has good taste at least, since everyone knows my hair is simply fabulous!"

That boasting had for effect of making all three Twili women erupt into fit of giggles and making the men roll their eyes in fond exasperation. While Harry didn't understand the dialect spoken, he liked the laugh of these pretty ladies, thus he laughed too all the while clapping his hands. It was then that something weird happened. Harry hiccupped and a shock wave of accidental magic was let out of his tiny body. It had for effect of coloring the skins of the women near him similar to a rainbow, like they had been dunked into a multi coloured dye!

While everyone was gawking at the results, little Harry was giggling almost impishly. Midna and Cibelle, who were the most sensible to the Mystic Arts among the group, were now looking at the Light dweller child in a whole new light and with clear awe! While they both knew that magic could be learned by Humans if they were determined enough, it was generally mostly the trade of Hylians.

That a child so young could have outbursts of uncontrolled magic, it was very surprising. And now the little imp was laughing at them! In a good mood, Midna decided to show off a bit. With a snap of her fingers and a small explosion of smoke, a similar shock wave of magic erupted from her like it had previously erupted from Harry and had for effect to cancel their new skin colouration. It had for secondary effect to also cheer the child, to the point he was happily babbling into his childish mangling of his home language, clapping his hands with joy.

What the Twili didn't knew, was the fact that their own language had evolved from the Hylian language when their Ancestors were exiled and imprisoned in the Twilight Realm and that in a twist of fate or a divine prank with the collaboration of multiple pantheons, the old and new Hylian language were both very close to Harry's native modern English. Magic had also a way to help its chosen when they were either in great need or when they expected it the less. Or sometimes it is just a Deity who got bored and decided to do something new to get rid of said boredom. Who knew really?

After dawdling a bit more, Midna decided it was now time to return to the Palace. It was also decided she would take the child with her and let the Palace's Healer examine the little tyke. Then they would see about finding his home Realm and send him back, but in the meantime, the Twilight Princess would foster him. Finding a Light dweller keeping his human form into the Twilight Realm was already an oddity in itself; but add the fact that the child was also a magic user, it was Midna's responsibility to look after the child. After all, looking after a toddler shouldn't be that difficult right?

The ruler of the Twili would soon learn that looking after a small child was anything _**BUT**_ easy. And she started to learn about it right as she prepared to teleport back to the Palace. The boy hadn't been happy to have his body changed into twilit particles without prior warning for fast travel, not at all. He had been fussy when she was opening the Portal but once back in a solid state in front of the Palace of Twilight, he was _**quite**_ vocal in his displeasure.

" **WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

The Leader of the Twili had to make a very big conscious effort to not throw away the brat still in her arms- He was no longer a sweet kid, what with the _**horrible**_ bawling- so she could clap her hands on her ears to tone down that detestable sound! The Twili woman tried everything to calm the child down. Rocking, singing (Which only made it worse since Midna couldn't sing to save her life *snickers*) conjuring soft magical lights of different colours, nothing was working. The problem was that while Harry had liked all the Twili women he had met so far, he was now acutely missing his mother.

Then to add insult to injury, a foul odour was soon smelt and Midna didn't lose any time reacting.

" **EWWWWWW!** Gross!"

Yes, Harry also now really needed a change of diapers. Life was cruel like that sometime. Like that time when it was Sirius' turn to change the boy's diapers during one of his visits and Harry decided that he suddenly needed to pee once the soiled nappy was removed from his bottom end. James, Remus and Lily were literally rolling on the floor in the aftermath, laughing until they could no longer breathe! In Sirius' case though, not so much. In the end, it took a powerful sleeping spell to calm the boy down.

While she would have preferred to manage to calm him by her own means, she had lost patience and couldn't endure anymore of that Gods awful racket! Midna's impatience and temper had brought her many troubles in years past, but with time passing and character building, her flaws weren't as obvious and as bad as before. Finally able to enter the Palace in peace, she soon ordered a nearby guard to fetch the Palace's Healer and to send her to the royal quarters with everything needed for an exam on a Human child.

While Twili, Humans and Hylians were very similar, they were also different enough to likely be affected differently by various substances and spells. Then she asked a nearby maid

"Please, send for a member of the Palace's staff who is or was parent to a young child to my quarters. I need advice on how to take care of a toddler and I also need to know what is needed for taking good care of the child. Ah, I will also take my meal in my chambers; pass the word to the kitchens."

The maid who Midna addressed was too young still to have conceived and birthed a child; she was only just leaving her teenage years behind. By a quirk of fate or simple biology, the Twili, male and female alike, were only fertile starting around their twenty fifth birthday. Oh, as a race they were maturing at the same pace than Humans and Hylians until hitting their prime, and then they would stay frozen in that prime for thousands of years, aging very slowly.

Before she was executed by Zant, Midna's mother was around six thousand years old and only looked like a woman in her early forties. After her orders given, Midna walked to her quarters where she was quick to put the sleeping child on a nearby table usually used for when she was taking her meals in private. After making sure that the boy would not fall down and hurt himself, Midna was quick to take a few steps back to get out of range of the smelly diapers. Now what was she going to do with a Human toddler coming from a Light Realm of all thing?

She supposed she could always travel to Hyrule and drop him off in an orphanage at Castle Town, but leaving a young Mage to be to be raised among the ignorant populace left a sour taste in her mouth.

It was bound to end in a disaster, since magic wasn't very common in Hyrule in this Era. But what else could she do? The Princess Zelda she got to know during her Exile following Zant's Rebellion had passed away a few decades ago and while the same Royal Family was still reigning over the country, the Triforce of Wisdom hadn't made an appearance on the last few princesses' hands, making their claim to the Hyrulian throne rather shaky. So she couldn't exactly entrust a magical child to a family at risk of being dethroned in a country where a civil war could ignite.

The Gorons and the Zoras tribes would be in the same boat as she, not knowing how to properly care for a Human child, thus they were out of the equation also.

Even with the increasing number of her people now able to walk freely into the Light Realms without being fatally wounded, there were still frictions between Twilis and Humans. Asking her subjects for a volunteer to foster a Human child would not be well received. Hence it was why Midna had decided to foster him until a more adequate solution could be found. At least, until they could find a way to send him back to his home; even if she had honestly no idea on how to take care of a child that young.

Her internal debate was put on hold, since the Palace's Healer had arrived. Said Healer was a woman of a certain age, but with Twili physiology, it was rather hard to tell her precise age. She looked like to be in her late forties and was short and stout. Her hair was a burgundy red and kept in a tight bun. She had grey eyes and her skin was a deep blue. She had been the Palace's Healer for generations because she was the very best at what she did. Though her bedside manners could be improved, not that anyone around the Palace was brave enough to tell her that to her face though! _**No one**_ wanted to aggravate Agitha. Not if you didn't wish being the subject of a thorough cleansing. * _shudders_ *

Midna had made the mistake to antagonize her during her troublemaker youth and she had deeply regretted it. Agitha ruled her domain with an iron fist and you only crossed her at your own risks. She was kind of gruff and had also a no nonsense attitude to booth. So the fact that she entered the Princess' chambers without knocking or be announced before entering was not alarming, it was just how she was. Those piercing grey eyes took size of her and when Midna was judged healthy enough, the Healer asked

"Hmmff. Why did you summon me for, girl? You don't look sick. Do you need another contraceptive potion because you went to Hyrule for another booty call and the locals still don't believe in protection?"

At that, Midna turned bright red. After two years of separation once Link, Zelda and she had defeated Ganondorf, Midna had cracked and opened a Portal directly to Hyrule. Once there, she tracked down Link, found him, took him back to his home in Ordon by force, threw him on his bed and after getting rid of their clothes, she made him a man. It was like a mini honeymoon since for two weeks they did nothing but lazing around, eating, sleeping and having sex at all times during the day and night, except when he was needed at the Ranch or for one chore or another around the village.

At the time, the Twilight Princess hadn't known that Twilis and Hylians were compatible enough to possibly produce together an offspring. So when she realized she was a few days late in her monthly cycle, Midna naturally panicked and went back home in a hurry, begging Agitha to help her fix her mistake. Fortunately for the Twilight Princess, Midna was not pregnant yet, but there was a chance that she could be. Sadly, the contraception potion tasted something awful and since her paramour was very virile, she was required to take one dose every day until she was menstruated, just in case. It was not a good experience and Midna didn't want a repeat anytime soon.

The problem was later identified as coming from the remnants of Zelda's soul energies that had been housed in her being. Having almost fused permanently, Midna's cycle had almost become like Zelda's. But since the remnants of the soul energies had faded, her body had been thrown out of whack. The Twilight Princess had learned from her mistakes though, so her next visits to Link were not followed by such unpleasantness. While they never married or even entered an official relationship, Midna and Link were lovers until the Hero entered a serious relationship with another woman.

Only then Midna backed off. She still came around for platonic and friendly visits once in awhile though.

Back to the matter at hand, Midna was quick to point out the still sleeping human toddler.

"No Healer Agitha. I didn't ask you to be fetched for me. A patrol found a Light dweller, a human boy who somehow kept his body in our Realm, who had been sucked in by an unstable Twilight Portal. His arrival and the fact that he is clearly not a soul was of enough importance to call for my help immediately. The boy is an anomaly and has supposedly a nasty gash on the forehead. The soldiers patched him up with some first aid field medicine, but it's not enough for a young child. Thus it's for his sake that I've sent a call for you."

Agitha wasn't certain if she could believe the tale the lass was weaving. But seeing a human toddler asleep on a nearby table with her own two eyes, she couldn't refute what her Ruler just told her. Not needing to be told anything else, the older woman approached the sleeping boy and as a sign of being used to smell and see more disgusting things than a soiled diaper, she only crinkled her nose at the foul scent. With a simple snap of her fingers, the soiled diaper was cleaned and refreshed and then she showed her experience in handling children by removing the shirt part of the night wear made of strange material with no problem at all.

The Healer then put a dainty looking hand on the child's torso and after a profound breath in and breath out; she focused her magic into healing energy. Her hand then started to glow a soft purple colour. Midna watched the procedure with interest. Despite being the most powerful Mage of her Tribe, even without the use of the power of her Ancestors, the Fused Shadows, she knew very little about healing others.

Soon, after a battery of tests, Agitha removed the bandage around little Harry's forehead. Cleaning the wound with water and sanitizing it soon after, she could see a wound that would left a scar, already taking the shape of a lightning bolt. But while the shape was rather original, this time it was Midna who caught wind of something very wrong mystically speaking. Hissing like an angry cat, the Twilight Princess muscled her way near her new ward and then put a glowing finger like a blinding sunset on the throbbing scar.

Usually, Agitha would have thrown the impudent girl away, but right now, even the irascible Healer was afraid. Her ruler was using the power of their Ancestors and by the Gods it was as awesome as it was terrifying, even if she was only tapping on a mere sliver of it! The older woman didn't have to wait long before the younger hissed venomously

"Someone tried to turn this child into a phylactery! Some sicko of a Dark Mage somehow left a shard of his soul inside the kid's scar! Sacrilegious! Blasphemous! "

At hearing that, even the unflappable healer let out a horrified gasp! It was horrible and more than disgusting, doing that to a child! It went against all the Twilis believed in!

Midna, now with her entire body glowing like a blinding sunset, used her power to exorcise the soul shard. Even in his forced sleep, Harry was fussing, mighty uncomfortable with the foreign magic now flooding his system. While the Twilight Princess was successful into getting rid of Voldemort's soul shard since it had not properly bonded with the child's psyche and magical core yet, even with the Black Blood Contract protecting him, the rebounding Killing Curse had left some sort of spiritual wound in Harry that had not had time to close and heal yet.

And while she had used only a bit of her true power, Midna's impulsiveness and Harry's hybrid nature played against her, creating a situation never seen before. By using her undiluted power on the child, she had accidentally gifted him with the capacity to use Twili Shadow Magic in the future! Children were nothing if not adaptable. It was doubly true for magical children. Harry's magical core would still permit him to learn and use Wizardry but said core would also produce Shadow magic on the same wavelength for now on.

After that outburst, Agitha was able to finish her exam while Midna was still fuming silently. If she ever got her hands on the Heretic Mage who had done that to that sweet little boy, she would make him pay a thousandfold! Once Agitha has declared the lad in good health after healing his scar to the point where in a year or two it would totally disappear, Midna was given a quick lesson on how to take care of a toddler by another older maid who was also quick to send for anything needed. Needless to say, it would be a long few days.

The upside to the situation, while Midna and Harry had many difficulties to communicate verbally, the princess had no problem reading the language she guessed the child was speaking and in inspecting his dirty clothing, she came across what she guessed was the boy's name stitched into his shirt. The guess pay dirt when she remarked that the boy was answering to the name. Harry.

As for Padfoot and Altrouge, they had had the bad luck of being dumped into a sparsely populated part of the Twilight Realm by the Portal. While their appearances got them strange looks from the locals, somehow the mother on a Quest was able to reassure them. What the Wizard stuck in a dog body hadn't seen was the fact than in manifesting her fangs and red wine eyes instead of emerald green, Altrouge was sending a clear signal that she was in fact not human at all. While she was clearly a Light dweller, her lack of humanity worked in her favour, since the Twilis were more used to deal with non-human beings.

Her now unlocked ancient knowledge did come to use also. By using old English, the locals were able to understand her better and they now could communicate. Apparently, the news of a Human child being fostered by the Ruler of these lands was still making much noise. The fact that the kid also stayed human and wasn't transformed into an animal like Sirius or a spirit like the regular people coming in contact with the local atmosphere was even more hot news.

By doing various exchanges of services since Wizarding money was useless here, they were fed and sheltered as needed during the long trek toward the Palace. Altrouge was happy to finally have a clue as to where her baby was and to know that he was well looked after in her absence.

While most of the population could use magic in one way or another, magical transport was not something common. In fact, only the Mages trained and approved by the Princess had the right to use the Portals. And even then, not all the Mages had the ability to use them. It was why nobody around had offered them to teleport them directly to the Palace. Even as a Dead Apostle Ancestor, Altrouge couldn't apparate to a place where she never went and never saw before. It was the same for a portkey. No coordinates, no instant trnasportation.

Visualization was a vital component in both methods of magical transports. Thus it was why Padfoot and she were forced to walk. She could have grabbed the Dog Animagus and ran at super speed all the way to the Palace and reclaim her son, but doing so would expose her true nature to Sirius and he had been a faithful and brave friend for too long for her to just dump it all on him. She would explain everything when he could take human shape once again and could discuss with her. Altrouge felt she owed him that much.

In the end, it took three long weeks for our duo to arrive at the foot of the Palace of Twilight. While her physical strength was far from depleted, Altrouge was mentally exhausted. She wanted to find her baby, took him into her arms, press him against her heart and rain on him multiples kisses. In all her immortal life, Altrouge Brunestud would have never thought she would become a mother. But now she was one and nothing, nothing was more important than her son in her eyes.

She would drown the entire world in flames and blood if she had too for him. Vlad Tepes' reign of terror would be seen as a simple temper tantrum compared to the lengths she was willing to go for her baby boy! She would have also to send something nice to Grandpa Zelretch, since he was the one who suggested a mortal lifetime and helped her become Lily Evans Potter. Maybe a few restricted books from the Department of Mysteries would please him? Never mind, it was something she could consider later, for now, she had to go fetch her sweetheart.

Finding her voice, she said

"Well, they don't do things halfway do they? What do you think Padfoot?"

Sirius was also exhausted. More mentally than physically, but his muscles and joints would need a rest too. He had never spent so much time as a dog before and it was starting to show. His emotions had dulled considerably and become much more primal than before. While still capable of deep thoughts, he was starting to think more like an animal than a human and frankly, it was scaring him. He just couldn't wait to get Pronglet back and leave this strange dimension behind.

He really needed a good beer and a shower. He was brought out of his thoughts by Lily's voice and he had to agree with her. He gave his answer with a short bark, and then nudged her closest hand with his snout. Lily acted like he knew she would, lightly scratching and caressing his face and his ears. They stayed in silence a moment, before she broke it with a voice hardened by resolution

"Let's go get Harry, Padfoot. Then we'll go home."

Sirius answered with a determinate bark and followed the woman he loved like a sister toward the Palace's entrance.

" _Don't worry Harry, we're almost there!_ "

Were Sirius/Padfoot's thoughts.


	3. Chapter 2

**Harry Potter and his Princesses**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Author's Notes:** _I was really undecided which story I would be working next. I thought about settling down on another chapter of Sacred Magic, but the muse was suddenly not very motivated. I prodded her a bit and while she was becoming quite lethargic, she seemed to perk up quite a bit while mentioning this story. So who am I, lowly mortal, to deny her? XD This chapter will feature Harry at different stages of his life. I have no interest of going through all of his years while growing up; I have enough stories with those threads and no inspiration to do another entire childhood._

 _I have many things I would like to talk about here, but it would take too much space. Oh, since Harry is supposed to have his mother's eyes, he won't need glasses in this story either. So before getting this show started, let's have a quick peek at the stats. We have_ _ **16**_ _Reviews,_ _ **151**_ _Followers,_ _ **124**_ _Favourites,_ _ **5**_ _C2 Communities and_ _ **3 069**_ _views. Thank you for your continued support._

 **Last Edit: May 19, 2017.**

 **Harry. age 15 months.**

Word travelled faster than anything else in this Realm and Midna was well aware that Harry's mother and a canine companion were coming to reclaim the boy. So she had instructed her guards to let the foreigners enter when they would arrive, to call servants to offer them sanctuary for a few days and to notify her when they would arrive. Due to the low luminosity of their Realm, the Twilis didn't possess linen and cotton made clothes since they couldn't make them grow. They were a metal rich people, but rather fabric poor. Thus they had learned to solidify shadows and give them the look and texture of clothes.

Since Harry had only his pyjamas when he arrived into the Twilight Realm, the seamstresses had to make him a whole wardrobe, diapers included. Midna had also gotten a severe ass chewing from Agitha once the healer had recovered from her scare. The irascible healer had immediately scanned the boy after the forced exorcism and while it had not left permanent damages and did what the Mistress of the Fused Shadows had intended; the child had absorbed enough of her power to assimilate and replicate it. In other words, her rash actions had given a Human child the capacity to use the magic of their Tribe!

It wasn't a recognized taboo only because it has never been done before, but the Twilis were usually very conservative as to who were allowed to learn the secrets of their crafts. Normally, Midna would have never let the Healer take her to task like that, but even as proud as she was, she was able to recognize that she really had screwed up big time. Now even if the child left with his mother back to his home Realm, she would have to spare a Mage to teach him how to use their tribe's magic when he would be a little older. After all, it was not like he could reverse engineer it on his own at his age.

Yeah, she really screwed up on this one. It didn't help that she didn't have much Mages to spare either. They were needed to man the portals to the Realms they were in contact with and scouting the Twilight Realm for anything abnormal. Man, what a mess her indignation and enthusiasm to get rid of the piece of soul inside little Harry caused. Or…Or maybe she could take responsibility and take a much deserved vacation? She hadn't left the Twilight Realm since Link's funeral, sixty years ago. It was food for thoughts…

When Altrouge and the big black dog she called alternatively Sirius or Padfoot arrived at the gates of the Palace of Twilight, they were well received per orders. While it was rare to see Light dwellers among them, the soldiers and servants did their jobs as expected. An older maid showed Altrouge to a sparse furnished room. There was a bed, another door leading to the water closet, a wardrobe and a nightstand near the bed. There was a real fireplace embedded into stonework with a protective grille and a poker. There was also some sort of fur rug half way from the bed to the fireplace.

The maid bowed to the guest and said

"Her Highness will be warned of your arrival. I may not have interacted much with your son Miss, but I can tell you that he is very healthy and was also well taken care of. "

Once the maid was out, the Dead Apostle Ancestor let herself fall in sitting position on the bed while Padfoot, done with his recon of this new place, let himself fell down on the fur rug in front of the fireplace, letting out a big sigh. It had been a really exhaustive journey, but they were very near their goal. Well, part of it. For all her extensive knowledge on Magecraft and Wizardry and the hidden secrets of the world, Altrouge had to admit that she wasn't exactly certain how her baby boy, Sirius and she were going to return back to Earth. For it was clear in her mind that they weren't on their planet any longer.

Her time as Lily had increased her patience even if a few fools around her had tested its limits quite a few times. She had to be pragmatic in this situation. Only the local Mages could open a Portal out of this plane of existence and they answered to their Ruler. Thus Altrouge couldn't go on a bloody rampage like she used to pull during the Dark Ages when someone or something pissed her off. Thinking about her past bloody rampages, it put her in quite a conundrum.

She would need to feed soon and even if these feeding times were inter-spaced by decades, with the technology always advancing, it would be very difficult to find a large enough feeding ground and remote enough to not attract the Enforcers, The Burial Agency from The Church or any local Magical Law Enforcement officers. Not that any of them were a match for a Dead Apostle Ancestor of her level, but the most powerful were not always those who came up on top after an altercation. While nothing short of a High Class Servant could kill her, a sufficient crafty opponent could find a way to seal her away. She refused to take the risk. Her child needed her!

She guessed that she could hold out without any drawbacks for about five years, ten at most if she conserved her strength. You see, the older a Dead Apostle get and the more blood they needed to consume to stay "alive". Fortunately, they could go a long time between feedings. Altrouge had drunk until she was entirely wasted before undergoing a mortal lifetime. Normally she could go around thirty to sixty years between feedings, but a successful pregnancy and resurrecting herself from the Killing Curse while she was still mortal had burned a lot of her reserves.

She guessed she could always go drain a few villages in lawless zones in some countries of Africa, but before planning for her needed dose of blood, she first had to get her son, find a way out of here and wait until that Harry was old and mature enough to babysit Sirius when she would be away. Even with her true self awakened, there was no way in hell she would bring two children with her for what would be a bloody massacre! Hum, maybe she could ask Remus if he could babysit the kids in her absence. He was always the more level headed of their little quartet and she would feel more at ease having a responsible adult in charge. Harry was an angel, but Sirius was a veritable hellion.

And if she was lucky, maybe she would find the traitorous rat during her travels. Oh, Gaia! With the Dark Lord defeated, the Wizarding press would have had a field day in publishing all sorts of things about what happened at Halloween. Well, she would have to do some damage control when she came back.

There was one thing she was one hundred percent sure though. Harry and she would steer clear of the Clock Tower and the Mage's Association's jurisdiction. Those Magi would simply love to slap a Sealing Designation of her sweet child and vivisect him to find how such a being was possible. A hybrid of a Wizard/Dead Apostle Ancestor was bound to make many unwanted heads turn, even if his Apostle traits were still dormant at the moment. Altrouge was many things, but overconfident she was not.

As powerful as she was, she didn't fool herself to think that nobody had developed a way to neutralize a being of her level long enough to grab her child and leave before she could do anything about it.

She would only meet with Grandpa Zelretch away from the Clock Tower if he wished to meet them until her child was old and strong enough to protect himself. Altrouge wasn't fooling herself, the Old Man of the Jewels may act like a Troll but he was far from being an idiot. He likely kept an eye on her mortal shell if only to document the experience. She would have kept brooding over her thoughts but they were interrupted by the sound of knocking.

Altrouge was quick to give the permission to

"Enter!"

A different maid from the one who guided here maid slipped inside the rooms and after a polite but definitively old fashioned bow, said

"Her Majesty has been informed of your presence. She is currently busy with State affairs right now and do not wish to be disturbed barring an emergency. I was told to also inform you that young Harry is currently napping. Her Highness will be ready to receive you for a private audience in a few hours and your son should be awake by then. One of us will come to fetch you when she will be free. In the mean time, do you require something special from the kitchens? We are used to catering for many species, thus our selection of food are rather varied."

Altrouge frowned a bit at that. She missed her sweetheart. She really wanted her son into her arms right now. She was seriously considering destroying everything into her path and reclaims the fruit of her womb by force. Harry was **hers**. She had carried him in her womb for nine long months and she fell in love with him the moment the midwife put the little tyke into her arms. But, she had other things to consider.

Their Mages held the key to leave this strange dimension and they had taken in her son, taking good care of him in her absence. The Vampire Princess of the Dead Apostlesfelt that she owed them her gratitude and she also had to think about Padfoot's well being. She wasn't the most knowledgeable in Animagi, having never pursued that branch of Transfiguration during her time as Lily, but she was pretty sure that it was not good for their mental health to stay locked in their animal form as long as Sirius has been. Thus she accepted the message from the maid but with reluctance. Believe it or not, she was starting to miss hearing his lame jokes for Root's sake!

She denied the maid's offer of a meal though. While she could consume normal food and drinks easily enough, as a Dead Apostle she would not receive any benefits by eating and/or drinking it. And she wasn't about to try drinking the blood of the staff. She requested a big juicy steak for Padfoot though. The poor dog was famished. Altrouge thought that the girl would leave and come back after a while, but she stayed where she was, snapped her fingers (The sound had somehow been echoed in the room) then a strange mosaic formed itself on the floor with a perpetual spiral in movement. One second later, the requested steak materialized in a burst of shadow particles!

While Altrouge was admittedly very fascinated by the foreign magic since it was clear that it wasn't Magecraft or Wizardry, Padfoot had jumped upon the very large steak. After sniffing to see if it were safe and it passed muster, he simply started to eat it with relish. The maid, her job done, snapped her fingers once again and the mosaic, some kind of Portal, closed and disappeared. After a bow, she left the apartments the same way she came in. It seems that the citizens were telling the truth after all. Only the Mages and the Royal Family were allowed the use of the Twilight Portals for travel means.

Not that she had thought they were lying to her per see, but she had taken the information with a grain of salt so to speak. Oh well, as long as she could get her beloved son into her arms and find a way back home, she would be happy. Deciding that categorizing her memories as Lily Evans Potter was one way or another to pass the time; she sat cross-legged on the middle of the bed and dove deep into her mind. Twenty one years of memories to sort was a big feat after all, even for somebody like her.

Soon enough, the Wizard forcefully turned into a Grim like dog and the newly reawakened Dead Apostle Ancestor were led in the maze of corridors that was making the interior of a remade Palace of Twilight towards the local ruler's apartments. Once they were granted permission to enter and her son entered in her field of view, Altrouge blew her prepared speech and with an unnatural speed, she dashed toward her baby boy, who was sitting, awake, in an improvised cot.

Crying freely despite herself, she managed to regulate her strength when she took her beloved son in her arms for the first time in weeks.

"Oh Harry! My baby boy! Oh! Mummy has missed her Sweetheart so very much!"

Very emotional, she just couldn't stop herself to rain motherly kisses all over her little boy's face and hair, hugging him tightly to her bosom. Of course, little Harry had recognized his mother too even with her new appearance and therefore, was hugging her like his life depended on it all the while crying too.

"Mama! Mama! Hawwy luv Mama! Want Mama! No leave Hawwy!"

If Midna had any concerns about that stranger's ability to take care and love the child before, they were now long gone. That woman had walked far and wide across the Realm with the sole purpose to rejoin with her child. Yes, she had gotten attached to the little guy, but she had been very careful to not replace his mother. Not that she exactly knew how, but hey, it's the thought that count right? She then trailed her eyes to the canine following the woman and at first; she thought he was the Hero chosen by the Gods reincarnated. But she soon revised her opinion.

While there was indeed something mystical coming from the strange canine, it wasn't anything similar to her deceased lover. If she had to guess, the magic in the air had put him into a form he had mastered prior his introduction into the Twilight Realm. And since regular humans became spirits in the Twilight, it was only a logical guess that the dog was in fact a human with a specific power or powers.

Once Altrouge was calmed, she put her struggling son down and the boy walked unsteadily toward the big black dog all the while saying out loud

"Pa'foo! Pa'foo! Hawwy luv Pa'foo!"

Then he started to babble happily, mangling his native tongue to the point that Midna couldn't understand it anymore, all the while gripping the dog's fur and nuzzling the now very patient and quite affectionate animal.

Padfoot wasn't inactive at all during all that. He was whining long and loud, barking out loud a few times all the while waggling his tail like mad. Between nudges with his muzzle and big sloppy licks all over the now giggling boy's face, you could accurately guess that he was very attached to the child. While he was the size of a big wolfhound, Padfoot was being very delicate with the son of his brother in all but blood, always keeping his strength in check. He was strong enough to fight jaw to jaw with a fully grown werewolf but in control enough to play safely with a toddler.

In the end, the tree Light Dwellers ended up staying one more week into the Twilight Realm. Midna had to admit to her guests that she had no idea not on how but rather _where_ to send them back since she hadn't seen their home Realm. But she also did her best to reassure them that the best minds she had under her service were currently working on it.

The Twilight Portal that had sucked in Harry had been an anomaly and it would take time to reverse engineer it. In the meantime, she could drop them in a Light Realm where they could settle down for a while. Like it or not, even with all the goodwill of the world and the efforts of her staff and herself, the Twilight Realm was no place to grow for a toddler Light Dweller.

It was thus decided by Altrouge that her little family would indeed settle down in Hyrule, for it was the name of the land where Midna would drop them to. Little Harry really needed a safe place to grow up, Padfoot needed to change back to Sirius and the Dead Apostle was seriously missing the feeling of the wind and the sun on her skin. Altrouge wanting to make an informed decision; was permitted access to the Royal Library, where she studied the most recent maps of Hyrule.

She was pondering between settling in a town and moving further away in the wilderness. Both had their advantages and disadvantages. In town she would have access to much of the offered services and the needed products for her son and friend, but not much of true privacy. Add to that the anti-magic feeling running around the local Human populace and it would be like the Dark Ages all over again. On the other hand, living recluse in the wilderness would put a big damper on Harry's social life, but they would not need to hide their nature and powers.

It would also be harder to buy the necessary products, what with being far from a Market. And there was also the problem of obtaining the local currency. Apparently Hyrule used gems of different colours commonly called Rupees. Altrouge had on her Lily's emergency's stash, safely contained in a Mokeskin pouch tied to a string around her neck, but it was a mix of British Pounds, French Francs and quite the pile of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.

She guessed she could always go to a Blacksmith and have him melt the gold, silver and copper then exchange the bullion for the local currency if she really needed it. Or maybe she could guilt trip Sirius into taking a job since he would effectively be the Man of the House and thus responsible to bring food on the table for her son and himself? There were so many things to think about in so little time. Oh well, she would take it one day at the time. Rushing those steps would only come back to bite them on the ass later.

In the end, they decided to take residence in the now vacant Fishing Hole in the Upper Zora River Region of the Lanayru Province. From what Midna explained to them while they made their choice; the Zoras were very responsible and discrete neighbours. The Zoras were an aquatic, blue-skinned humanoid race that existed in Hyrule and where tasked by the Royal Family to protect the water sources of the Country.

They were monarchical, with a Queen and/or a King to govern them. There was also a cave system that leads from their Domain to the Northern Hyrule Fields for a land route or there was also a waterway leading closer to Hyrule Castle Town. Going to Castle Town by foot at a mortal pace would make a few days journey, but once Altrouge and Sirius had the locations in mind, they could apparate there to save time.

In the end, Altrouge and a very glad to be human once again Sirius, had to use Wizardry in tandem to spruce up the lovely but now tatty log cabin into a real home. While Midna had given them enough provisions to hold for a while, they would have to head into town to restock sooner or later. As precautions since Harry's little trip into the Twilight Realm had made him even more precocious, (The tyke had somehow taken to apparate flawlessly at will almost everywhere…) Sirius had to erect powerful wards near the banks of the lake and also on the door leading out to the River. The child loved to play outside and the adults encouraged actively that habit, but he was still too young to swim alone and unsupervised yet.

Their second night back into a Light Realm, once Harry was put in bed for the night, Sirius approached Lily with his questions that were plaguing him since he found her and Harry alive following Voldemort's social visit during the last Halloween.

"I've waited long enough. We now have Harry back and he's safely tucked away for the night. Can you explain to me the changes you went through? You are still Lily but somehow you're not only her anymore. I'm not blaming you or anything Lils, but I think I earned the right to hear the unvarnished truth from your mouth. Seriously after weeks in Dog form, you owe me big time."

He finished with a bit of humour in his voice.

Sitting on a carved wooden chair staring at the fire in the newly erected fireplace of the remodeled wooden cabin, Altrouge allowed her disguise to fall after a weary sigh. Her skin became almost deathly pale and marble like, her green eyes bled to a wine red colour and her aura of predator skyrocketed.

She then said

"You are right, of course. I owe you the entire and unvarnished truth. But I ask that you do not interrupt me or question me until I am done. Can you do that?"

After a solemn nod from the Black Heir and once he was seated in turned, she started to explain

My true identity is that of Altrouge Brunestud. I am the Ninth Dead Apostle Ancestor. To resume that title to something you would understand, you could call me a Super Vampire. The Ancestors are the nobility of _**all**_ Vampire kind. We aren't classed by our strength by the way, rather by how much we could represent a menace to humanity if we could be bothered. I have _**none**_ of the weaknesses exhibited by those degenerates that roam the slums of Magical Societies.

Garlic, Holy water, crosses, running water, sunlight, Holy grounds and wooden stakes don't do shit to me. All their powers the most megalomaniacs of them boast? I possess them but about a hundred to a thousand times stronger. Plus, my kind of Vampire is known to have a very high level of magical resistance. In that form, I could tank a hundred Killing Curses back to back and I wouldn't even be fazed. Before my time as a mortal Witch, I was also an accomplished Magus. "

She took a quick break to gather her thoughts and when she was done, she continued

"I do feed on blood but I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, so I won't attack a person randomly. I can eat and drink regular aliments, but I get no sustenance from them. I can't even get drunk on alcohol for Root's sake! Immortality is a double edged sword to be honest. Twenty-one years ago, I was bored out of my mind and was just about to do something very stupid and dangerous if only to cure said boredom for a while. So my surrogate grandfather, who I was visiting that day, suggested that I underwent a mortal lifespan instead. He had tried it in the past once or twice and found the experience very refreshing.

You have to understand that my favourite form before becoming Lily was that of a Fifteen years old girl, so you could guess that it was a very explosive mix. Hormones in constant flux, teenage mood swings and power to spare with little to no morals to temper it were just the evident issues. You could also tell that I really lacked the lessons regular people learn when you must deal with whatever consequences fall upon you when you screwed up badly. Sincerely, this stunt as a magical human was the best thing to ever happen to me, after my Sweetheart's birth of course.

Magecraft may be more powerful than Wizardry in general; but in your case you have the advantage of versatility and also the option of quicker travel, what with Apparition, Floo Travel and Portkey. Many Magi at the Clock Tower were foaming at the mouth in rage of seeing your kind of Spell Casters invent those first. So I decided to undergo a mortal lifespan to have a new experience under my belt instead of going into a killing rampage somewhere. Thus with the help of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the Fourth of the twenty-seven Dead Apostles Ancestors, I was reborn as Lily Evans.

My ungodly strength, true nature and powers would be unavailable to me until I was in a true and extreme life or death situation or after my mortal lifespan was all used up. And even in such mortal peril, it wouldn't be a full awakening. I _think_ I awoke briefly in a fight against your cousin on the wrong side of crazy Bellatrix, but I would have to be close to her to be one hundred per cent sure. I _think_ I turned her into a Dead Apostle, so if I did we have a possible sleeping agent in the Death Eaters since as her Sire; she would be beholden to me. Back to the real story, when Voldemort came to kill us, he offered me to live in exchange of Harry's life. I refused categorically of course.

When he hit me with the Killing Curse, I went into a coma similar to those who drank a Draught of Living Death, it broke the remaining bindings on my true self though and after he failed to kill my baby, I awoke to my real self. During my awakening, I guess Harry was catapulted into an unstable Twilight Portal, you then arrived only a few minutes after he was _displaced_ and after that, you know the rest."

She ended her tale there. She would keep her specific powers over contracts be they magical or not under wraps for now. The fact that Harry was half Apostle combined with the protection Contract her two selves sealed together and the Love based sacrificial ritual were why he was still alive after being hit with the Killing Curse would not be shared with anyone until she had an interest into doing so. If his hybrid nature had been awakened, Altrouge felt sure that Harry would have survived the Killing Curse without the need of the Blood Contract and the Sacrificial Ritual.

Sirius had to accept the "new and improved" her first before she made more confidences. She also wondered how he would react in seeing Primate Murder.

Sirius was flabbergasted for lack of a better term. He knew about Magi and Magecraft, of course. How could he not when it was two recurrent subjects in the Household he grew up in? Well it was mostly inflammatory comments, but he knew enough since he had been an Auror. Aurors and Enforcers tended to work together in many cases during the war. The Dead Apostles Ancestors were something new though. So Lily or rather Altrouge, was some sort of aristocratic super vampire? She was the ninth most dangerous in the whole twenty seven? That one threw him for a loop, but it kind of made sense.

It would explain why she was always so scary when she would confront the Marauders after bullying Snivellus or after a prank she was a witness to. It was probably a bit of her predator aura that was leaking out. In the end, he could accept it and move on or he could stay in denial and isolate himself. He needed to grieve for James' death but he was also needed to help raise Harry into the good man his father wished he would be. So his answer was

"Give me a night or two off each week with a few bottles of alcohol to get pissed to help me mourn James, get used to every changes in my life and the rest of the week I'll take the job of the male role model in Harry's life. I will be able to deal with the fact that you were a super vampire aristocrat in human form so long as you don't try to make a meal out of me and Harry. The rest I'll deal with it as it comes. Oh, don't get on my case if I still call you Lily okay? It's going to take a while to get used to your new name. Do we have a deal?"

Altrouge's answer was thus

"We have a deal. Don't worry though Sirius, I would never feed on my flesh and blood and for your case, I don't like Dog's blood, so you're safe."

 **Harry, Age 8**

Little Harry Potter had grew up quite nicely these last few years. He was very healthy and a bit tall for his age, measuring a whooping 1m22. His skin was tanned by the sun since he was almost always outside. His hair were a bird nest and untameable just like his father. His green eyes were luminescent just like his mother and he seemed to have inherited Sirius' roguish grin. Quite the social butterfly, he was great friends with a couple of Zora kids around his age.

In fact, he would be often found playing around outside the Domain or inside the cave, up the cliffs. Harry was very agile and strong for his age, courtesy of jumping and climbing up and down the Cliff-side pathways like a monkey around the Domain day after day. The Zora tribe had also well taken to their new neighbours. Altrouge and Sirius were their contacts to the Realm of Man and their official suppliers. The Zora gave them a list of what they needed and then, the Dead Apostle and the Wizard would go buy the supplies needed with the Rupees collected for a fee and bring the shipment back. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

In exchange, the King and Queen ordered their guards to also patrol the area of the River all the way down to the Boat Rental Cabin and the Royal couple would babysit Harry during his mother and godfather's absence. That region of Hyrule was peaceful, quiet and didn't have many visitors; most of those visiting the Lanayru Province went down to Lake Hylia or Castle Town, but it was better be safe than be sorry.

King Ralis was even the one who taught the boy how to swim while his wife was teaching their first grandchild, Laruto, how to catch Reekfishes. While the young boy would never be as good as the Zoras themselves in the water, he was already leagues ahead of his mother and Sirius.

It also seems that Harry had inherited more than a bit of the mischievousness of his father. And with his Zora friends, he had no shortage of willing accomplices. Such as the time they managed to dye Altrouge's hair a bright green by slipping some sort of seaweed that grew on the bottom of the pool in the centre of the Zora's Throne room in her home made shampoo. That day they all learned that Altrouge was even less fond than Lily was to be the butt end of the joke.

One by one, she caught the miscreants and each of them, boys and girls alike, were spanked until their bottoms were red and they could no longer sit without pain, no matter how much crying or begging they were doing!

The Zoras were not so isolationist in their ways to the point of protesting against the fact that another responsible and respected adult gave a justified punishment to their misbehaving children. It would not be the first time an adult Zora would have to drag a misbehaving Harry by the ear to reprimand him either. It didn't help that Sirius was egging the little miscreants on. He was laughing a bit less though when Harry and Laruto had the brilliant idea to spell his bed waterproof, charm it to float on the water surface and then let him get carried by the strong current all the way down to the Boat Rental Cabin.

And it was after somehow managing to sneak the bed and him out of his room without anybody noticing anything before it was too late! That one made Altrouge laugh so hard that she had very hard time breathing!

 **Harry, Age 10.**

For his tenth birthday, Harry would be getting a tutor in the way of the swords to balance his lessons in Wizardry and Twili Shadow Magic. (Midna came around about every two weeks for at least a few days, thus she was repenting for her mistake in the first place by tutoring him) A recently retired Royal Knight was hired to teach the boy since Altrouge had never taken any interest into swordplay in her long life and Sirius had forgotten his fencing lessons during his teenager years while messing around with the Memory charm one day.

The Knight was rather gruff and seemingly had the personality of a rock, bur he knew his stuff. He was sparse in compliments and generous in critics, but not in a malicious way. He was just rather hard to please and was now currently staying at the Boat Rental Cabin. The Knight, one Sir Augustus Rook, had him first learn the basics with a wooden sword. Harry was quite disappointed that it would likely be years before he would be even allowed near a real one.

But just like his magical studies and pranks with his Zora friends, he gave his all. His physical training only increased when his Apostle constitution awoke, thus giving him supernatural speed, reflexes and strength. Harry had recently learned, much to his depends, that Sir Rook could be an even harsher taskmaster once he was made aware of Harry's new limits…Those bruises sucked…

A few weeks after his Apostle body awoke; his family had taken the boy to Hyrule Castle Town with them to go buy the next cargo since he was now old enough to make the trip on foot. It was also time to make him see a bit more of the Country. Altrouge and Sirius usually rented a big cart and a couple of horses from a Ranch on the way there to stock up, took it all the way to the tunnel leading to Zora's Domain.

Then they would send the merchandises at the reception point with magic before leading the horses and cart back to the Ranch. The deception was needed since magic wasn't actually a common sight in Hyrule in this Era.

Harry had greatly liked the roundabout trip, even if the atmosphere was somewhat tense in Castle Town. There was some ruckus up by the Castle and when the Royals weren't happy, it was generally the populace that suffered. There was a little downside to the trip though. Harry was supposed to stay close to his mother while Sirius suddenly decided he had to go do a few personal errands alone. But his mother had become totally absorbed into a big conversation with the local Potions maker and it was in terms that a hyperactive ten years old boy couldn't understand and even less force him to stay still. So with a quick

"Be right back",

Harry tracked down his Godfather into a rather shady alley not so far from the Potions shop were her mother and the clerk were talking business.

What he found would be marked in his memory _**forever**_. It hadn't dawned yet to Harry that Sirius had "needs" and that he would seek the help of a professional to satiate them since Altrouge and Midna weren't about to indulge him with that. Altrouge loved Sirius like a brother and he just wasn't her type and in Midna's case; they were buddies in mischief, nothing else. Yes, young Harry had just caught his Godfather having sex against a wall with a prostitute. The sight had gotten him to freeze in incomprehension until his mother tracked him down and dragged him away with an amused smirk on her ruby red lips after seeing the scene.

The boy would get **"The Talk"** once they would be getting back home, the poor lad. Not.

"You see Harry, when a mommy and a daddy love each other's very much; they decide to have a baby…"

It was to be as much as Sirius' and Harry's punishment. One for not been discrete enough with his dalliances and the other for having disobeyed the clear directive to not wander from her sight in an unknown place. Needless to say that Harry couldn't look at a woman in the eyes for a few months without blushing like a tomato.

In Harry's magical studies, Altrouge had made a breakthrough. Since a Dead Apostle Ancestor was classed as a Phantasmal creature, they were more in tune with the energy of the Earth than other beings. By truly focusing her will, she found out that she could perform all her Wizardry spells without a wand. It was even easier for Harry to learn the trick since he didn't had the bad habit of relying on the artificial circuit that a wand was.

Thus if they ever returned to their world, the Ministry of Magic could no longer threaten to snap his wand if he did not follow the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. Not that she would actually permit the Ministry of Magic to have any authority over her child anyway. She was more willing to obey Zelretch's Decrees than anybody or anything else. The man defeated her "father" for God's sake! He might play the fool but he was strong enough to defeat her even in his weakened state. And if nothing else, Altrouge respected personal and proved power.

 **Harry, Age 12.**

For Harry's Twelfth birthday, Midna came by with good news during one of her bi-weekly visits. Her people had finally found Altrouge, Sirius and Harry's original Realm and after visiting it herself, she could now take them there easily. In the last two years, Harry and his family had scoured about every corners of Hyrule now that the lad was old and solid enough to travel (Apparition and Twilight Portals were very useful to cut travel time when needed, but sometimes taking the long way around could be more rewarding), but after a while on the roads, they would always come back home in the Fishing Hole.

Taking a break of sword training since Sir Augustus was heading to Kakariko Village to visit his daughter and grandchildren, the family packed for travel after Altrouge informed the Zora Rulers of their absence and Midna opened a doorway into reality with an ease that was very baffling. While he was progressing well in Shadow Magic, using the Portals were still out of Harry's league for now. So seeing the Twilight Portal forming on the ground by the Twili's will was bound to get a reaction out of him.

"Whoa…! That's so cool!"

Even if Harry hadn't been on Earth since his toddler days, he had picked quite a few expressions from Sirius, since during his rebellious teenager phase; Padfoot had delved deeply into Muggle culture to get back at his blood bigots parents.

Everyone took place in the portal once he was completely formed. After all, by this point, the Twilight Princess was an old friend of the family, thus trusted unconditionally. She was the only woman around with whom Altrouge could have "Girl Talk" with. Don't get her wrong, she had quite a few Zoras friends, but despite their humanoid looks, they were oviparous, thus the female Zoras were not subject to "That time of the month" like Midna and she was.

It turned that after having a successful pregnancy; Altrouge's reproductive cycle had stayed human, and no matter what she tried, she could not get rid of the "Monthly visitor" much to her eternal frustration.

When everyone was ready, Midna activated the Portal and they were changed into Twilit particles and teleported away.

They materialized back into the Twilight Realm. Even if it was in a region that Altrouge and Padfoot hadn't explored, it was easily recognizable due to one little fact. Yes, Sirius had been forcefully transformed into Padfoot once he was exposed to the local magic. Since Altrouge and Harry were not human or not fully human in the boy's case, they weren't changed by the magic of the Realm. Then there was another big clue as to why Harry would have stayed himself one way or another.

It seems that the Golden Goddesses had a wicked sense of humour, since in a bright display of holy light; a golden mark made of three triangles superposed appeared on the back of Harry's right hand! When the mark was settled, the triangle to the right seemed to be brighter than the other two!

Altrouge had seen drawings of the mark and knew the local tales and legends since her new friends were kind enough to educate her on the subject, but she had always thought it was just that, legends. It seems she was wrong. Now it seemed that Murphy was working in concert with the Divinities of Hyrule! Midna's reaction was to curse out loud. The Goddesses loved to screw with her! She now had known two Chosen Heroes in her lifetime! Harry had somehow been gifted the Triforce of Courage!

After much grumblings, Midna teleported them once again, but not before morphing into her Imp form and fusing with Harry's shadow for more stealth, since Earth had never seen Twilis before and having heard of the Magi from Altrouge, she had no interest of being the next thing slated for vivisection! They reappeared into a part of the deserted countryside at the frontier between Scotland and England. Sirius was quick to take back his human appearance, grumbling to himself like every time he was subject to a forceful transformation.

But now what to do? They hadn't been back here in a bit more than eleven years! They had to find what happened from a trustworthy source and then they could plan how to go forward. Turning around, Sirius offered to his sister in all but blood

"What would you say if we went up to Hogwarts to pay Professor Dumbledore a little friendly visit? At least he will be a good source of info. I'm not much of a planner really, but even I know better than to walk up to Diagon Alley without knowing the current lay of the land."

The Potter Matriarch nodded absently, taking the time to don a more human like disguise. Her skin became more tanned and lost its marble like constitution and her wine red eyes became emerald green. She consciously lost her supernatural beauty, allowing some imperfections and a bit of age to be seen. After all Lily would be in her early thirties by now. Once as human as she was willing to be, she took her son with her for side-apparition. He may be able to do it flawlessly by himself, but he had never seen Hogwarts Castle before.

After some motherly admonishments to behave and not start a prank war with Midna and Padfoot on the Staff, they disappeared in a loud crack and reappeared near the gates of the majestic castle.

Seeing her son looking at the magical castle in awe, she said to him with a found smile on her still kissable lips

"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Harry."


	4. Chapter 3

**Harry Potter and his Princesses**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Author's Notes:** _I tried to start chapter 20 of Greek Kunoichi, but the words wouldn't come. I also pondered on doing a new chapter for Sacred Magic or even Heaven's Feel, but I don't have enough ideas for both right now. So since my muse seems to be pushing me more or less subtly in this direction, who am I to deny her? So Harry and his family are all finally back on_ _ **Earth 1**_ _after more than a decade away. The times had changed. Some things are the same, others not so much. I'm still a bit unsure as to how go about the whole Chamber of Secrets debacle, but I'm sure I'll figure something eventually._

 _Now let's take a look at the stats shall we? We have_ _ **31**_ _Reviews,_ _ **242**_ _Followers,_ _ **203**_ _Favourites,_ _ **5**_ _C2 Communities, and_ _ **6 880**_ _Views. Before anything else, I've chosen Harry's Animagus form for this story. Believe me it's very original, I never saw that particular animal been used before in the many Harry Potter fanfics I have read. And I also have an interesting idea for his Animagus form in "_ _ **Where in the world is Harry Potter?**_ _", but for more, you'll have to wait until I write it lol XD Thank you very much everyone for your continued support. Now let's get this show on the road!_

 **Additional Note:** _For future references in this story, I won't write_ _ **any**_ _accents from_ _ **any**_ _characters known to have one, like Hagrid and Fleur for example. I have two reasons for that. First, I have absolutely no idea how to do it properly and second, I feel that trying to do so would kill my inspiration. Thank you for your understanding._

 **Last Edit: May 19, 2017.**

Hogwarts Castle was a large, seven-storey high building supported by magic, with a hundred and forty two staircases throughout its many towers and turrets and very deep dungeons. The castle was built in the late Early Middle Ages by a wizard Architect and the four most celebrated wizards and witches of the Age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and last but not the least, Salazar Slytherin. The Castle housed Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, regarded as one of the finest Wizarding School in the world.

Hogwarts was built in a valley area — surrounding mountains were part of the epic landscape — with the fairly large Great Lake situated to the south of the main building. The huge main oak front doors leading into the Entrance Hall faced the west, and opened up to sloping lawns. The deep Forbidden Forest extended around to the west of the Castle. There were also exterior greenhouses and vegetable patches on the School Grounds. Hogwarts was located in the Scottish Highlands, near the all-wizard village of Hogsmeade and "not very far" from Dufftown, in Banffshire, and Achintee, in Lochaber.

That was what his mother and Sirius had told him about the Castle in front of them. While Hyrule Castle's exterior was grand, it would be found lacking comparing to this Fortress of learning in his mind. Harry could literally _feel_ the magic in the air as they waited for the Gates to be opened. It was still rather early in the morning after all. While his mother and he could have smashed down the said Gates easily and make their way to the Castle, it was unnecessary. They were trying to stay above all suspicions after all. And while waiting was a bit bothersome, the local scenery more than made up for it, what with the big and gloomy looking forest and the mountains all around.

Then a very big man was seen walking in their direction at a good pace. When Harry saw him up close, he was totally stupefied. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide! He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins! While Harry pondered in the silence of his mind if the man was a distant relative of the Yetis of Snowpeak, his mother and Sirius had big smiles on their faces.

In fact, it was Lily who said with fondness in her voice and a big smile on her lips once the huge man was nearer

"By Merlin, Hagrid! It's good to see you again! You haven't changed one bit in all these years!"

Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, was an incredibly warm, kind hearted man, and would often forget his exceptional size and strength when patting people on the back or when hugging them. This would explain as to why the second he recognized Lily Evans Potter; he opened the Gates in a hurry and swept her into a rib-breaking hug all the while sobbing with joy.

"Lily?! Is it really you?! Of course it's you! You're alive! You're alive! Merlin, I can't believe it! I'm so glad to see you again! Everyone feared the worst when we learned what happened and saw that you and the little tyke had vanished! Dumbledore was sure you two were still alive though. Never gave up hope the Headmaster."

Lily did her best to reassure the half-giant and to play the role of human, she said with convincing strain in her voice

"Hagrid! Air!"

The gentle man jumped like he had been scalded and then fussed with many apologies. Then the Gamekeeper's mood seemed to plummet when he recognized Sirius. With a grim face rarely seen on the no longer jolly half giant he said

"You better have a very good explanation Sirius Black or else you are in for a world of hurt before I call the Aurors. You are the principal suspect in the Potters' betrayal. Where you not their Secret Keeper? Did you really forsake seven years of friendship with James and everything Charles and Dorea Potter did for you from the goodness of their hearts? All for the sake of what exactly? Power? Fame? Money? Women perhaps?

You swore up and down to everyone in hearing distance during all your schooling years and beyond that you would never go Dark, Sirius! Now it's time to prove it! I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt only because I saw you grow up from a boy to a man and I just can't believe the mischievous boy I saw become a man would do that, so you have only that one chance, _**DO NOT**_ squander it."

He finished by crossing his enormous and muscled arms around his torso, his imposing figure guarding the Grounds' Gates, preventing the Marauder from going any further until his say so.

Harry wasn't expecting at all that their party would be met by open mistrust. While his mother and Sirius had explained in broad strokes the Blood War and who the big players had been, there was a difference between been told about it and seeing some of the results firsthand. The big fella, Hagrid, was suspecting Sirius of having told their location to this Voldemort character? What could have motivated such a thing if it was true? Chasing those thoughts out of his head, he took the parole for the first time since the Gamekeeper's appearance and said

"Well I'll leave you all to your adult stuff, guys. In the meantime I'm really hungry so I'll go in the Castle see if I can find something to eat. See you later!"

While his voice snapped Hagrid out of his suspicious mood and glaring contest with Sirius, albeit temporarily; the two responsible adults in Harry's life had different reactions to his speech. Sirius just told him to

"Go ahead and have fun. We'll find you when we're done here."

Lily, thought, had wanted him to wait with them for conveniences' sake, but before she could rein in and catch her impulsive offspring, the lad had already dashed ahead out of her grasp, barely keeping his supernatural speed on the down low. While she could have used Wizardry to summon him back and made him wait, he would only make a scene. Harry was every bit as a Drama Queen as his father had been around his age when he was on an empty stomach.

Hagrid, who had only just remarking the boy since he had been quiet so far, tried to grab him. That's the keyword here, _tried,_ since the kid dodged his grabbing hands with a very disconcerting ease. After all he hadn't given the party permission to enter the Castle Grounds yet. His title was not a made up one after all. Hagrid was the one who guided the newcomers in and those wanting to leave, out. While the Headmaster was the master of the wards, the Keeper of the keys was the master of the gates. Rubeus Hagrid took his duties very seriously. Thus the fact of seeing a youg'un getting passed him so easily was rather vexing.

Turning his head toward a now sheepishly smiling Lily and giving her the stink eye, he said, a bit annoyed

"That's James' son alright. Not even a student of Hogwarts and he's already breaking the School rules left, right and centre. Oh well, It's not like a twelve years old boy can do much damage on his own. Besides, it's Saturday so he won't disturb any classes. Never mind the kid, the Professors will surely take care of him; you still owe me an explanation Sirius. I am waiting."

He finished with his countenance grim once more.

Lily was half a mind to intervene, wanting to resolve this in the privacy of the Headmaster's office, but she knew that Hagrid wouldn't budge. And if she wished to keep her cover intact, she just couldn't make him move no matter how strong the temptation was. At least Harry should be safe around the school. Even at his young age his magical resistance was insane! He shrugged off most of the Wizarding spells doing physical damage as if they were annoyances at best!

Of course, both Sirius and she didn't put their full power behind the spells, not wanting to seriously hurt their (god) child, but the facts stayed the same. If they were at the Clock Tower though, now she would have reined him in immediately. Lorelei Barthomeloi, the Queen of Clock Tower, was an expert at ferreting, fighting and killing Dead Apostles. She could even take on a few lower level Ancestors all by herself for Akasha's sake! That was one human she was wary of and with good reason.

While Loreilei was entirely outmatched against Altrouge or others Apostles stronger than her, Barthomeloi was one of the few people she didn't want _**anywhere**_ near her son until he was fully trained, grown up and armed up to the wazoo! Probably with a sub-machine gun enchanted to shoot magic enhanced bullets or maybe a few Holy swords if she could find some. Or at the very least, he should been able to use the Twilight Portals at a moment's notice before going anywhere near the Clock Tower.

Grandpa Zelretch was much more powerful than the Barthomeloi bitch, very true, but his brand of "fun" was preferable to the next great adventure and to be fair to the Old man of the jewels, he wasn't omniscient. Then Sirius began his tale.

(Sirius and Lily had rearranged the "Official" story of what happened that Halloween night beforehand. In place of talking about new Planets, Realms, alternates Dimensions and everything "impossible" for Wizard kind, they would tell that they went abroad on an unplottable Potter propriety to raise Harry in secret and safety and also for them to grieve James' death. Only a few chosen would get the "Real" one.)

How he felt he was far too obvious for making an effective Secret keeper after James asked him since _everyone_ knew they were like brothers, how there was a leak in the Order and since Remus was often abroad in some top secret missions, the suspicions fell on him. Thus James and he both decided to prank the Dark Lord and his Followers. Peter, shy little Peter, who would have suspected him?

While quite talented in some things, I mean becoming an Animagus at fifteen years old was nothing to sniff at, he always had crippling self esteem issues, and thus those same issues were stunting his powers. He had never been a high profile person so they had decided to make him the Secret Keeper of the Fidelius. Albus had offered himself for the job but James had refused, wishing to keep things tight with the Marauders.

Thus Lily had cast the spell since Charms were her specialty, Peter accepted his role but it turned out that _he_ was the traitor in their ranks, feeding information to the other side! Sirius was only meant to be the decoy, thus it was why he had let slip things and hinting at being the Potters' Secret Keeper. It was all to keep the heat away from Peter. Next, Sirius told about having a very bad feeling that fateful evening.

He had mounted his motorbike, rode all the way to Peter's bolt hole, but found the place deserted with no signs of struggles. Almost panicking beyond reason, he had pushed his bike to its maximum speed, in direction of Godric's Hollow. He had hoped to arrive in time, but unfortunately he was too late. James was gone to his next great adventure and while Lily and little Harry were both alive somehow, she was devastated. Only the bawling toddler in her arms kept her from going into a catatonic state.

Thus Lily had suddenly decided to go abroad on a hidden Potter propriety in self appointed exile, to both mourn her husband's passing and to raise their son. Sirius, as the Oath bound Godfather, had then impulsively decided to follow them. He was now the principal male influence in Harry's life after all now that James was no longer with them.

Then Hagrid had to bust the sombre moment by saying

"Merlin, Lady Vivian and Morgana, I sure hope that the boy won't be as bad as you were when you finally realized that girls were interesting Sirius! Hogwarts doesn't need another man-whore roaming her corridors so soon after the last one! How you managed to never catch any **STD** s is beyond me."

The comment had for effect of sending both Lily and Hagrid into hysterics while a very flustered Sirius started spluttering denials after denials in vain.

While the adults were hashing things out between them, Harry was making a good time towards the Castle's entrance. Midna was currently silent, but was extending her magical senses all around since she was curious. She was in awe with the feeling of sheer magic floating freely in the air. So that's what it felt like to be around a magical building that stood for a millennia and served as a school for magical children? Bringing back her senses to her current partner in crime, she saw him sneak inside the school and then sniffing the air like a hound looking for his prey. He was trying to find the odour of food among everything floating in the air of the Castle.

When he was out of the Entrance hall, he saw various students of various ages head to somewhere in particular. Many were wearing robes of all things! Even in Hyrule, who was rather medieval on many things and renaissance on others, there was nobody who was wearing those. Braies, overalls, canvas pants and long tunics were often seen on men where women generally dressed in dresses and gowns of various styles. There was always the exception to the rule of course, but they were rare.

To be honest, Harry wasn't a boy who was much concerned with fashion. His mother bought raw fabrics in Castle Town and made clothes for everybody in the family. At home Harry was often wearing only his Bermuda style shorts since the weather in the Upper Zora's River was always very mild and humid at the minimum, his Apostle constitution rending him very resistant to capricious weather and his leather boots were also easily removable since he was often in the water with his Zoras friends. While he may have been born here on Earth, Harry had grown up in Hyrule, so home for him was there, not here; at least for now.

Since they were going to a more modern world, his mother had sewn for him what she had called Jeans. Honestly, it wasn't uncomfortable, but it was a bit weird. Well, after transfiguring the fabrics into the right one that is. They were black. He also had a long sleeve sweater that was grey-white and since it was still chilly due to being in April, he also had on an earthy brown homemade jacket she made from a few cloaks. Of course his feet were adorned with his Adventurer set leather boots.

Figuring the students were eating in the Great Hall, he pondered about joining them or finding the Kitchens. Sirius had told him a lot of stories about his time at Hogwarts and had emphasized on some places more than others. Like the fact that the boathouse could make an excellent and discreet love shack if you knew which way to go. Almost nobody went there. Not that he was very interested in girls in that way to begin with, so that info was not very useful.

Deciding that the Great Hall was closer and too hungry to go in search of the Kitchens, Harry covered himself with a powerful notice-me-not charm. People would see him but he wouldn't register really in their minds. He would be just like a passerby. That way he could eat without the drama about the return of the Potter Heir.

Seeing the four House tables plus the Staff table, Harry then pondered lowly under his breath

"Okay, to which one I should go?"

Midna then decided to piped up

" _Why not go to the one with the silver and green banner? Slytherin I think was the name? I remember Sirius saying that it was the rivals of his own table/House, Gryffindor. I owe him a good prank, so why not give him a nasty shock by seeing his godson "fraternizing with the enemy_ " _?_

Since she was part of his shadow, only he could hear her, so she could talk with no fear of being detected. It was a trick she had mastered during her partnership with the previous Hero. Nodding with acceptance with an amused smile, the black and wild haired boy with luminescent emerald green eyes followed other people wearing green and silver to their table. Once seated near a rather tall and gorgeous long blonde haired girl and a slightly taller brunette with hair in a pixie cut, he served himself from the plates around him, not really paying any attention to the conversations around him.

While Harry was eating his fill and trying the new dishes around him all the while profiting from his anonymity, he had not taken in account that some people around him might have possessed Gifts that could likely see through his attempt to be inconspicuous or at least register his presence. While his **Notice-me-not** charm had fooled all the members of the Staff including the Headmaster, Daphne Greengrass could _feel_ an unknown presence very nearby.

In fact, it was a part of her gift. There were unknown vibrations on the bench and on the table, thus making her wary and to be honest, a bit nervous since she could not focus on the newcomer sitting on her right side and she didn't like that one bit.

Normally she wasn't _that_ paranoid, but with the number of students that were found petrified since Halloween still going up and with seemingly no end in sight to the attacks, her nerves were rather frazzled. The Staff were utterly useless in this crisis, running around without a goal like a beheaded chicken. And to make it worse, Malfoy and his cronies were crowing out loud in joy and dare she say _patriotic_ pride each time a Muggleborn was found petrified. Even he was smart enough to not call for their deaths were authority figures could hear him though. Draco knew that if he was expelled, he would ruin his future, it was the principal reason as to why he was toeing the line.

While Daphne was not admittedly very fond of Muggleborns in general since most of them sneered or looked down on centuries of traditions and the fact that they always wanted to modernize things without trying to learn exactly why Magical Society operated the way it was; she also knew that fresh infusions of unpolluted blood were needed to keep the ancient bloodlines strong.

Look at her family per example; they almost always looked for partners outside of the U.K Enclaves! And also they _**never**_ married close relations, since inbreeding was a one way trip to extinction. Her father was from Northern Ireland, like the rest of the Greengrass Clan, but her mother was a half-blood witch of Viking descent hailing from Norway.

While it may not have looked like it from an outside's point of view, Slytherin House was not entirely ruled by the Blood Purists. They were just the most vocal faction inside the House. But gold talked and while the Malfoy family was not all that high in the British Wizarding World's nobility ranks, they seemingly had cash in abundance to burn. Draco was buying support for his views and ideas with his insanely high allowance. Daphne was still too high in the current hierarchy to be threatened or blackmailed into "service" like a few unlucky others girls who were devoid of a powerful patron's backing, but if she was anything, it was a realist.

The day was likely to come sooner than later, what with her blossoming figure and the male population starting to leer disgustedly at her. And to add insult to injury on her situation, she had started to have her menses a few months ago. Now that she had crossed the teenager threshold, it was only a matter of time before the male Blood purists started "asking" her for favours. Her status and family wealth would buy her some time, but sooner or later she would be asked to "contribute for the Cause".

And it would not end well, not at all. Daphne knew that if she put herself into the right mindset, a specific application of her Gift could make a blood bath before they could do anything to her. But she was not a killer, which was why she was already looking for alternative solutions. There was always the Metal manipulation side of her Gift, but to be honest she wasn't sure that she could use it fast enough to restrain every Blood Purist in Slytherin House before she would be incapacitated.

She would have to practice that side of her Gift more and ask her father and/or grandfather for more advanced lessons this summer. Maybe her mother had some tricks that she could share with her to discourage overly amorous boys?

Professor Snape was always trying to come down hard on them for this kind of behaviour, but there was little he or the other teachers could do without proof. Those who talked generally ended up in worse situations than before. It was already a good thing that the man had managed to pound into those inbred nitwits' minds with the help of Headmaster Dumbledore that that sort of conduct would get them into heaps of trouble outside of their House. Professor Snape was also brewing in batch every week potent contraception potions and had the House Elves put it in every student's drinks during meal times. There would be _**no**_ Line Thefts and/or teenage pregnancies so long as he was a teacher at Hogwarts!

Back to the Blood Purists' case, It was one thing for them to insult the Muggleborns with derogatory names or been sexist in public, but it was another ball game all together to try to exert their dominance on those they felt were lesser than them by force. There was always a high risk of retribution in those situations. The Purists weren't the only ones inside the School willing to use other spells than schoolyard jinxes and hexes… One particular thing made her laugh when she was in private though. Her frosty disposition had earned her the moniker of "Ice Princess" by the Rumour mill. It was entirely erroneous but still amusing, since her family gift had her tied with the Earth itself.

The Greengrass family were what was called Earth benders. Earth bending was one of the four elemental Bending Arts which consisted of Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Earth bending was the geokinetic ability to manipulate earth and rock in all their various forms. Daphne, using her bending, could use a sixth sense that was called seismic sense.

With that she could identify the various persons around her by their way of walking. It was with this sense that she was able to concentrate on the stranger next to her. Of course, it wasn't the same as seeing it with her eyes, but with the seismic sense she could deduce that the stranger was male and likely around her age due to his size if she wasn't mistaken.

The boy wasn't doing anything overly suspicious, he was likely just eating a big breakfast, what with the food disappearing from the plates at the centre of the table and going to his own. But if he wasn't planning anything nasty or forbidden, why was he hidden? The guy must be under a very powerful Notice-me-notcharm to be able to fool the entire school population except her! Well, Astoria and her father could have likely detected him too, but her sister wasn't due to start school until next year and her father wouldn't come to Hogwarts unless there was an emergency or a parent-teacher conference.

Letting your children go to Boarding School and putting them into the Teachers' care and to intervene only when called by the Head of House or the Headmaster during the school year was a part of letting your child grow up in the U.K Wizarding World. It seemed rather like a hands off approach to raise your children, but it was tradition since the founding of the school. The Wizarding World was very attached to their traditions. Thus she was the only Earth bender currently attending Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Daphne had also heard many theories citing that the Castle was alive and somewhat sentient. She could attest that it was the truth. Logically, it would have been far too risky to Earth bend inside the castle except for minor things, but it could regenerate itself very quickly!

She saw it with her own eyes when she used her Gift one day after the Yule Holidays last year, to get rid of the pests following her everywhere that were Draco and his flunkies by raising a wall at one intersection once she was out of their field of view. It had the expected result of forcing them to take the long way around to join the Great Hall. Normally she wouldn't have misused her Gift for something so petty, but she had lost her cool that day. As soon as the pests were far enough, the wall had came down automatically without any outside help and the corridor had also lost all traces of the damages done by bending the stone floor!

After that day, she started to get nudges, for a lack of a better term, coming from the Castle's consciousness. It almost never talked to her with words, but mostly with feelings and images. When they really needed to communicate by words, it would talk to her through either the Bloody Baron or the Grey Lady. She was often asked to reinforce a few sections of the Castle with the help of her bending, where the wards and the magic seeped into the stonework were now weaker nowadays, thus more vulnerable to the ravages of time and bad weather than elsewhere.

Realizing that during all this time lost in her thoughts she had been on auto-pilot, Daphne came back to reality and offered her best friend and sister in all but blood Tracey a somewhat sheepish smile. Daphne was answered by an amused grin and twinkling in amusement sky blue eyes. They both knew each other's enough to have non-verbal conversations, what with having grown up together. After finishing eating, both girls decided to have a little digestive walk around the school. They hadn't much better to do anyway and the Library wouldn't be open until one in the afternoon anyway.

Once the duo was gone from the Great Hall, it was the exact moment that the doors leading outside opened to let in Hagrid followed by Sirius and Lily. Having now eaten his fill, Harry guessed that if stayed around that he likely would be asked to take part in a boring discussion between adults; he made a snap decision. Harry, still under his Notice-me-not charm, decided to make a tactical retreat while he still could. Midna was a bit miffed that Sirius hadn't seen them, but she could still one up him by telling him later where they had eaten.

Being a shadow had some nice advantages; the Twilight Princess had consumed a few plates herself without being seen. Maybe it was Fate or maybe sheer coincidence, but Harry's tactical retreat took him on the same path previously taken by Daphne and Tracey. What both Daphne and Harry didn't knew, it was the fact that their meeting would be what was needed to change her destiny. Daphne Greengrass and Harry Potter's meeting would be the boy's "official" start at collecting "Princesses" affections.

Back with the adults, once the uproar from their return died down, Albus was quick to direct everybody involved to his office. While overjoyed that his hunch had been proved correct with Lily and Harry's survival and his unfounded doubts about Sirius' guilt been just that, he knew there was bound to have a story behind their sudden return. Quite frankly, it would change from his routine of trying to find where the damn Chamber of Secrets was and what was petrifying his students.

Minerva would have likely joined them but she had elected to go back to her office to grade assignments. While she had been close to the Potters and Sirius, what with being their Head of House, she knew that Severus would need closure first. She could seek her former students later. And if she had time, she could try to track down little Harry. If Lily was here, her son was surely near too.

So once everyone was seated, Albus was suddenly quite surprised by Sirius' maturity. As soon as Severus' presence was accepted, the Dog Animagus walked to the Potion Master and bowed low before saying with a formal tone of voice

"Mr. Snape, I wish to officially apologize for my ill treatment of you during our schooling years. I had no excuses to act like I did and I can only point the fact that I was an immature bully for the reason of my misdeeds. I am sincere in the fact that I regret my actions. I do not seek your acceptance or your forgiveness since I crossed the line one too many times, but you were due an official apology of my part."

Once done, Sirius ignored Severus entirely (it was an improvement to be honest, in the past he would have constantly antagonized him for no reason other than he could) and went back to his chair, resisting the temptation to smirk at seeing Dumbledore and Snape's shocked faces. While it could have been a great prank, this time he was very sincere. He had crossed the line one too many times and Snape was due an apology at the very least. He would never like the man, they would never become friends but they likely could learn to tolerate each other's by small doses when necessary.

Severus Snape was totally flabbergasted. Did that just seriously happen? Did Sirius Black have really apologized formally to him of all people? To be sure he wasn't dreaming, he casted on himself a wand-less stinging hex. The pain registered, nothing had changed so he was sure that it was real. Well, he will have seen everything. What's next? Dumbledore will shave his long beard, have a much needed haircut and then wear regular robes? *snort* Yeah, he wasn't betting anything on those odds.

Dumbledore was quick to steer his guests to the much needed conversation. He offered tea, biscuits and Lemon Drops, but almost no one took him on his offer for the candies. Sirius hated anything that tasted sour, Lily/Altrouge preferred Blood Pops anyway and Snape, well he decided to dash Albus' expectations by taking one. His face was priceless! Who said Severus Snape didn't have a sense of humour?

After a bit of grumbling since he knew he was being teased by one of his Head of Houses, Albus took the parole

"It does my old heart good to see you both again after so long, Lily and Sirius. But something is bothering me, where is young Harry? I didn't see him with you when you entered the Great Hall."

Lily smiled a bit and answered with the tone of a proud mother

"My son ran ahead of us when we were discussing with Hagrid at the Gates. My Harry is quite the adept in the stealth department, so I think that he might had cloaked himself with one spell or another to stay incognito. He was feeling hungry, so I guess he likely sat at one of the House tables in the Great Hall or found the Kitchens."

Albus was rather surprised. A twelve years old child could already do that? Well, he might not have been taught in a magical school then, since those kinds of spells weren't on any curriculum before the NEWTs years. Lily and Sirius must have tutored him then. The educator in him was very curious to see the boy's level, but that could wait for later. There was need of a serious discussion. Young Harry Potter's schooling would be a topic to be brought out at a later time.

Severus really didn't know what to feel at the moment. He had bound himself to the Headmaster at the time where his mind was addled by his grief, in attempt to obtain redemption from his mistakes. For it was he who had brought part of the Prophecy to the Dark Lord; the very same Prophecy announcing the arrival of someone able to vanquish him. Because of his information, the Dark Lord hunted the Potters and the Longbottoms without rest. In his heart of hearts, Severus couldn't care less for James Potter and his accursed spawn's lives, only Lily; his only light in the darkness that was his life had counted.

He was admittedly elated that she had survived the Dark Lord's visit to her home but he was rather disappointed that _Potter_ 's crotch spawn had had the same luck. He had only seen the babe once, but seeing Lily's eyes and her cheekbones on James Potter's face had been too much for him. He had refused to look upon him again. Severus did not know if the Dark Lord had truly spared her like he had begged him to or if Lily's survival was due to other factors and frankly, he did not care enough to find out. She was alive and it was all that truly mattered to him.

He had loved her more than anything and anybody else in the whole wide world, but she had given herself to his most hated nemesis. Now, about eleven years later, she and her son were both back from where ever they had been and while Lily didn't seem to hold any more ill will towards him, she had not greeted him with warmth either. Severus honestly didn't know which situation was worse. Been hated for turning to the Dark Arts and uttering that disgusting slur during one of the lowest moments of his life or been brushed off as a mere acquaintance or as an old childhood friend you lost contact with years ago.

But what else could he do about the present situation? Honestly, Severus wasn't even sure what he was truly feeling for Lily Evans (She would _**never**_ bear the name _Potter_ in his eyes and in his heart) was lust, familial love or even romantic love. After all she had made her choice years ago. But she should have been his! Not _Potter_! He would have even given her his blessing if she had accepted another man's ring! But no! It just had to be _Potter_! _Potter_ who had stolen _everything_ from him and who even had the gall to _save_ his life from Black's ill planed prank!

 _Potter_ who had fathered a child with the woman that should have been _his_! Even dead that man was still haunting him! And he couldn't just go turncoat again and go back to his old ways to get rid of the obstacles in his path, for the Life Debt he owed the father had been transferred to the son! Even if the boy wasn't as arrogant and insufferable as his late father has been, Severus really wasn't looking forward to teach the boy. For where else the child would be educated now that Lily was back?

Every members of the Potter family had attended Hogwarts after all. And even if he really wasn't looking forward to it, he couldn't just abandon his students by resigning from his current post, so he would swallow his distaste and teach the Potter brat.

Severus emerged from the depths of his thoughts to find out that the Headmaster's office was now empty except Lily and him. Now able to look at her with more attention, he remarked that those eleven years had been kind to her. She looked hardly passed her mid-twenties while she normally should have shown a bit more of her thirties. Where ever she had been during this dozen of years had been good for her musculature, since his Spy's gaze could see the lithe but efficient build she possessed. Had he known who she truly was behind her facade, her musculature would have been rather deceptive.

Then she broke the silence by saying rather neutrally but with a smidgen of amusement in her voice

"The years haven't been good for you, Severus. Pardon my language, but you look like shit. I've told you quite often to leave your Potions lab for a few hours each day and enjoy some sun and fresh air, that way you wouldn't look like a vampire."

When he started to talk, she interrupted him just after her name left his lips

"Lily…"

"Shush Severus. Let me talk please, it's important. First of all, I want you to know that I forgave you for the words you said to me after our OWLs. Second, yes I married James of my own free will. Yes we had sex numerous times before and after the marriage, yes it was great, yes James gave me orgasms and yes we had a son that looks like him with my eyes, cheek bones and nose. It happened, now get over it.

I _**never**_ loved you like that Severus and even now that I'm a Widow, it hadn't changed. You always were a good friend. Yes, a friend. Yes, I am and was aware of the torch that you carried for me, it was kind of obvious to be honest, but I was too young and not enough experimented in life to let you down gently.

I honestly apologize if you felt that I lead you on, it never was my purpose to do so. Now, it's time for you to let go of your school grudge. James is dead and buried, Peter betrayed us to Voldemort before doing a runner- oh stop flinching! It's not even his real name for God's sake! - Sirius _finally_ grew up somewhat and Remus is God knows where, trying to live with his affliction. The Marauders are no longer your tormentors, Severus.

We are no longer school children; it is time to leave petty grudges behind and look forward. I know that you are better than that. Now, my son and I are going to be guests of the Castle for a few weeks, to give us time to adapt to the current climate in the magical and mundane societies. My boy will surely be seen running around, but I don't intend to enrol him as a student. Knowing him he wouldn't tolerate the uniform and I really don't want to be out of his life for nine months a year. If you can't be polite with him, simply ignore him. I will instruct him to return you the same courtesy.

I trust that you will be able to act as a rational and responsible adult and not as a petty and immature bully holding a grudge against a dead man? However, I am warning you only this one time. If you take your past grievances with James upon my son, I will cut off your balls and fed them to you. Believe me you don't want to provoke me. Now, excuse me, I've got to find Harry before he get in trouble. Have a good day, Severus, I'll see you around."

And with that, she left him alone in the Headmaster's office, with only the sleeping portraits of the previous Heads as witnesses. Severus would likely never know, but compared to what Altrouge could have done to him if she had been who she had been about thirty years ago, he had gotten off quite lightly. The ninth Dead Apostle Ancestor wasn't someone you crossed lightly, not if you wanted to keep living that is. Being Lily had tempered her character and made her stop to kill people left or right for nothing. But if you so much as threatened her family, all bets were off.

Back to the many corridors of Hogwarts, Daphne and Tracey were followed by a still under Notice-me-not Harry. The boy had nowhere in particular to go, his mother and Godfather hadn't called him back, Midna was mapping the castle with her eidetic memory, so following two pretty girls around was better than nothing. He was wondering something though, why almost everyone here were wearing strange bath robes as uniforms? And what was it with the hats he saw several adults wear at the meal?

Was it the fashion here? To be honest, Harry couldn't see himself wear something similar; it looked way much too restrictive! How could he still run around, hunt, forage or climb if he was dressed like that? What Harry didn't understand yet was the fact that Earth was not like Hyrule where the towns had much distance between them. Here the villagers who were not living in larger cities didn't have to find their subsistence from the wild or from farming. Progress and modernization had changed their ways of life.

But he would not have long to think about the differences between his birth place and his home, since Daphne had decided that she was now quite fed up of having a stalker. Once they were in a deserted corridor where nobody was around, not even a ghost, the blond haired girl made a silent sign to Tracey to stand aside and when the taller brown haired girl did so, Daphne then took a martial art stance before stomping powerfully on the ground. Her stomp had for effect of creating a two metres tall wave of rock and with a straight punch in the air, the wave was sent at high speed towards Harry.

Showing that the training Sir Augustus Rook had pounded into his head was working, Harry used his supernatural strength to jump in the air, dodging the wave of rock sent toward him. Since he was now actively doing something that would make him stand out, the Notice-me-not charm cancelled itself, thus letting the girls register his appearance. Tousled neck length raven black hair, luminescent almond shaped emerald green eyes and aristocratic cheek bones on an oval shaped face and dressed with Muggle clothes.

To the girls, it was clear that he wasn't a student, since he was their age and they had both made their business to recognize their year mates, no matter their House affiliation. They were willing to cross House borders if it could bring them powerful allies. Then they saw him leap metres high in the air to dodge Daphne's attack! What the hell?! Tracey, with a sharp movement of the wrist, called her wand in her hand from her wrist holster and was ready to start hexing.

But Daphne wasn't done and with a shake of the head, Tracey now knew to not intervene unless the situation was dire. Kata after kata, she sent multi shaped projectiles made of stone to the boy who, to her growing frustration, was dodging them with an incredible grace and speed. That smile on his face was starting to do strange things to her insides, so she decided to wipe it from his face!

Then after letting the castle regenerate, the Earth bender decided it was time to change her tactics since ranged attacks were not very effective. While normally Daphne would have stopped and talked things through by now, she had been really frustrated for months and the stranger was a welcome if unexpected target on which she could unload all the aggressiveness she had been repressing. With a quick move, she put a knee on the ground, and then thrusting one hand directly into the stone floor! There was almost no resistance, similar as to what happened when you stabbed a hand into a water source. Then Daphne brought out a spear made of stone!

Harry was frankly in awe at the blond girl's powers. He had never seen anything like that before! He just had the time to let out a low

"Whoa…!"

Before his eyes widened and he had to scramble away, since Daphne was now surfing on a wave of rocks toward him at great speed! She was very quick and agile since he barely managed to escape been hit and she had managed to nick his brand new jacket! The one his mother made just for him! The blade of the spear had torn a long gash into his right sleeve all the way to his shoulder! Now very annoyed, he said with a strange accent in his English that the girls couldn't actually recognize

"Now that does it! You wish to play rough Milady? Then let's play!"

Jumping back a few metres, Harry took advantage of the distance to use Shadow Magic. Bringing his hands together in a rough sphere shape, a red sphere of light with tiny black squares in it started to form in between his hands! A few seconds later, after a loud and grave grunt of exertion, a strange obsidian coloured sword with soft blue glowing lines along the upper part of the blade and a strange carving in the form of an eye at the head of the pommel appeared from nowhere, floating in the air until the boy took it in hand! Now properly equipped, he took a guard stance and said with the same smile that gave Daphne butterflies in her stomach

"Now, shall we dance Milady?"

Mistaking his jovial tone for a mocking one, Daphne growled with anger and with another thought, she started surfing on the stone made corridor again to gain supernatural speed. Harry, with his Apostle constitution, could and did match that speed of hers on his own two legs. With a loud " **CLANG!** " both Rock Spear and Twilight Sword clashed once, twice, thrice, before Daphne had to retreat since Harry was clearly the better trained weapon user of the two. Showing her innovative mind, she managed to surf up the nearest wall and on the ceiling, trying to spear him with her weapon.

Tracey was left there, gaping at the skills of her best friend and their strange stalker. While she knew Daphne could do things like this, there was a difference between knowing about it and seeing it firsthand! While she was rooting for her friend, Tracey was a realist. Daphne was now starting to tire; Earth bending so much was hard on her still developing body and on her magical reserves. Daphne was matching the strange boy blow for blow right now, but little by little, he was clearly taking the upper hand. He had so far showed supernatural speed and reflexes and she could now add endurance on the list, since he was clearly not winded.

Then it finally happened, the end of their duel. Daphne was now clearly huffing and puffing, her face was red with exhaustion and she could almost no longer bend successfully or so Tracey and Harry thought. In a flash of precise movement, the boy successfully disarmed her, launching the Rock Spear away from Daphne's hands. And since her hold on her Earth bending was slipping due to her fatigue, the Castle reabsorbed the stone spear all the while repairing the impromptu battle ground. With a little flourish, Harry put the tip of his blade under Daphne's chin and with a smile that in two to three years would be considered quite roguish, he said

"I am the winner! Do you yield, Milady?"

Defiant forest green eyes glared back to the twinkling emerald green ones. So, he thought it was a game huh?! She would show him! You did not mess with Daphne Greengrass with impunity! With the last of her reserves, she slammed the ground with a fist, which had for effect of creating a wall between the girl and the swordsman and faster than he could react due to the cheap shot and the fact that he had lowered his guard, Harry was propelled fast against the closest wall.

Hitting his head hard against the said wall, he slipped down until he was sitting on the ground dazedly, his back on the wall. The girls had taken advantage of his disabled state to get away before the noise made during the duel got the attention of someone in authority. The last thing they needed was a loss of points and a detention for fighting in the corridors. Since Harry could no longer concentrate, the Twilight sword he had created vanished away in Twilit Particles.

With a slurred voice, Harry said with a rather dopey smile on his lips

"I think I'm in love…"

And that was the first meeting between Harry James Potter and Daphne Ophelia Greengrass.


	5. Chapter 4

**Harry Potter and his Princesses**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Author's Notes:** _Well, my muse was undecided if we should work on this one or on "_ _ **Where in the world is Harry Potter?**_ _" , but the ideas seems to flow more easily for here than on the other works. I really don't have much to say this time to be honest. I have a vague plan in mind, so we'll see where it's going. Let's go see the stats then. We have_ _ **45**_ _Reviews,_ _ **391**_ _Followers,_ _ **315**_ _Favourites,_ _ **9**_ _C2 Communities and_ _ **14 470**_ _views. Wow! I'm always amazed of the response obtained by my stories! Thank you so much for your continued support! Let's get this show on the road now shall we?_

 **Additional notes:** _As I write these additional notes on this day, 2017-03-07, I received a review concerning_ _ **Sacred Magic; Wizard and Dragons**_ _and my recent habit to put in bold the names of powers, epithet, institutions and whatnots. At first I wasn't really inclined to change things even with the guy's very logical arguments, but the conversation stuck with me and tonight, I came to realize that it was indeed a bit much. So I decided to change the habit by underlining the previously mentioned things in place of putting them in bold print._

 _I don't have a schedule set, but I do plan to go back to previous chapters of my various works and do the change. Thanks_ _ **Dracco**_ _. Also I'd like to give kudos to_ _ **Sakurademonalchemist**_ who was the _first to came up with the idea of_ _Midol_ _being very useful into easing the symptoms of Lycanthropy. XD_

After Harry's fateful meeting with the Greengrass heiress followed by his close introduction to one of the castle's sturdy stone walls, it took him a good fifteen minutes before the foggy sensation and the following headache finally went away. Even when he was back at one hundred per cent, the boy stared a while in the direction the girls had escaped before snapping out of it. Remembering what the pretty blonde girl who made the earth move with martial arts' katas had done to his jacket, he looked at the result once more and groaned out loud. It would take him **forever** to fix it manually! Especially since his mother and Sirius hadn't taught him the specific spell to repair damaged clothes yet...

"Aw man! Mom's gonna flip when she see this! What's more, it was brand new! I _**really**_ didn't need _**another**_ ass chewing so soon after the last one… Who cares if I've super glued " _ **kick me**_ " signs on the backs of two guards that were stationed on the road leading up to Hyrule Castle the last time we were there? Uncle Sirius thought it was quite funny. They shouldn't have been sleeping on the job and being such tantalizing targets. Bunch of incompetent morons…"

Harry mumbled to himself.

Midna of course, just had to add her two cents since between the girls' leaving and Harry's concussion vanishing, she had came back from her little solo expedition and was now back inside Harry's shadow

" _Did_ y _ou know that talking to yourself is seen as a sign of madness? Be careful Harry. You didn't have much sanity to begin with; do try to not lose what little you have left in your possession!_ "

She finished with a crystal like laugh. Midna always enjoyed needling the people she cared about. It was the way she showed that she cared. Not everyone liked her particular display of affections though.

Harry grumbled an answer

"Shut up you annoying Imp! I swear to Farore, some days I wonder who's more mature between you and Padfoot…I'm perfectly sane, thank you **very** much!"

Midna was quick to answer somewhat hotly

" _Hey! Don't compare me to that flea bitten mutt, munchkin! And you don't get to talk to me about maturity either! Not until you at least hit puberty mister! We'll come back to this argument when you'll be at least old enough to shave and not one moment before!_ "

Somewhat vexed, she cut the communication between them before starting to sulk. The nerve of that child sometimes! Humph!

Sighing with fond exasperation, the boy then simply decided to go elsewhere, since there was no longer anything worth seeing in this corridor. Trying to track down the interesting girl so soon after their little match would only result into more problems. He was already in for a solid scolding for letting his brand new jacket get damaged; there was no need to add more to his case. Now concentrating on where he was walking, Harry could say that he really liked the feel that the castle gave off. The magic seeped in the very stones and foundations felt very welcoming to his acute senses. Reapplying his magical camouflage spells since he was not cleared to roam the castle yet by the staff, he then let his instinct guide him. It had never steered him wrong before.

Back with Altrouge, Albus and Sirius, since they had returned to Albus' office once Severus had departed to likely digest all the world tilting information he just received, they were now conversing back and forth about their recent experiences under very heavy anti eavesdropping wards subtly enhanced by her Magecraft. It wasn't paranoia when there was someone out there to get you after all. The elderly Headmaster had much difficulty into wrapping his head around what one of his favourite students of all time just told him. The first subject was about tears into the very fabric of their reality that could be leading to whole new worlds or dimensions?! If he hadn't knew beforehand that Lily was not the kind of person to lie just for the hell of it, he would have called bullshit on her story.

Another subject of conversation was about a Shadowy Realm that was in a state of perpetual twilight, filled with peaceful denizens whom wielded strange but powerful and never before seen magic. Then soon after it was about a whole new planet where the country where they had been residing in all these years was in a late medieval, early renaissance time period, technology wise. It was almost unbelievable, but after being a teacher for so long, Albus simply _knew_ when someone was lying to him. He didn't even need to use passive Legilimency. Sometimes students would fabricate very tall tales to try to escape detention and/or point loss. It was one of the staff's favourite subjects of conversation during breaks between classes in the Staff Room.

As the younger generation would say, his " _bullshit-o-meter_ " was quite developed and very fine tuned. And Lily hadn't lied to him even once. Oh, he wasn't blind to the fact that she had withheld some information, but he wouldn't begrudge the woman her secrets. She would share what she wished to and only when she would be good and ready. Albus was sometimes too curious for his own good, but this time he had a good grasp on that particular flaw of his.

From what he could glean from what he had been told when he had asked, Hyrule was very avant-garde socially for the supposed Era they were in, what with the strictly enforced gender equality laws, the universal ban on slavery with the addendum that any slaves stepping foot in their Kingdom's borders would be automatically freed. And also with the string of Queens that sat on the Hyrulian Throne, ruling the Kingdom with a consort these last few generations, it was yet another sign of avant-garde.

The things that were the most fascinating for him though were the tales about the various races found in that Realm. There was an aquatic humanoid race called Zoras, living, breathing and quite intelligent rock golems, for lack of a better comparison, called Gorons, the differences between Hylians and regular Humans and so many other things that actually made his head spin from the overload of information he received!

Albus was an educator first and foremost, but he was quite the avid scholar also. He had always loved learning new things and later on, he had also come to enjoy teaching the next generations some of what he knew. Before he had been roped in his current political posts, thus eating much of his precious free time; Albus used to teach a few classes for various Years per week, on top of his Headmaster's duties.

He also used to be one of the first people you could go looking for a willing substitute when a teacher had some problem and could not cover his classes. While his specialties were Potions, Alchemy and Transfiguration, he was not too shabby with the other courses. If worse came to worse, he could always follow the Professor's teaching plan.

Dumbledore believed that by teaching the students, by being closer to them so they could learn from his example, he could help them achieve their goals in life, whatever those may be. He wanted them to grow in themselves. He would love to restart the habit but for that he would have to let go of either his Wizengamot or his ICW posts. He would happily let the Ministry deal with its own business by itself if only the current Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge would stop constantly pestering him for advice.

Seriously, it was feeling like he was doing the man's work for him. If Albus had truly wished to have the top job, he could have asked for it and he would have likely gotten it the very same day. Not that he wanted it one way or the other anyway, absolutely not. Albus would prefer dealing with children over politicians every day of the week. He already had too much paperwork as it is as Headmaster, he wouldn't survive the work load as Minister! He was lucky that his other two posts were mostly ceremonial and had little paperwork.

As it is, he wasn't really feeling very confident in trusting Fudge to run things all on his own without the fool making a mess of things or asking the wrong persons for advice, but on the other hand Albus really didn't want to be in power. He couldn't be trusted in those circumstances… His past was the proof of that. Thus he was letting the now Minister pestering him for advice and helped the man as much as he could since it was a somewhat adequate compromise in his mind.

He was not in power but he could try to mitigate the damage that Fudge could likely cause with his blundering by accepting to help advise the younger man when asked. How that man had managed to make it all the way to the top job without the full backing of a major Faction and without any bribes flowing one way or another, Dumbledore would likely never know and sincerely, he wasn't certain that he wished to know either. Some things were better left forgotten.

Albus suspected that the various Factions had decided to compromise since little to no progress was made and Fudge was likely the less intimidating candidate they could choose from the candidate's pool. That was the current political landscape of Magical Britain in resume.

Wishing to talk about something else, the elder man then went with the domain of his chosen profession: Education.

"Are you sure you do not want to enroll Harry into our beautiful school, Lily? The lad needs a good education if he wants to be able to forge himself a good future in our society. I admit it's somewhat late into the scholastic year, but we could always try to arrange something. After all you know that no one in our society will hire a Wizard without his OWLs and NEWTs. "

Albus was well aware that the Potter family was pretty well off and that Harry could afford to not work one day of his life and not suffer from lack of funds, but the Headmaster wasn't the kind of person to encourage the next generation to be layabouts. Seeing the still forming thunderous face of his temperamental ex-student, Albus was quick to add all the while making a few quick warding gestures with both hands

"Not that you and Sirius did not do a great job tutoring him already I'm sure! But surely socializing with children around his age would do the lad some good? He needs to make connections with people around his age for his future after all."

Altrouge was somewhat annoyed with Dumbledore's suggestions. She had _**no**_ plans to sequester her only child in an ancient magical castle in the middle of the Scottish Highlands for nine months or more a year for six or seven years with so few occasions to see him! She told so to the bespectacled headmaster with a deadpan tone

"Albus, would you stop beating around the bush and simply tell me frankly what is it you want? Even if Harry makes some friends around his age, my son was raised into the wilderness far away from the city life and we lived in a magically expanded wooden cabin near a mountain fishing lake; we are no longer used living in society. Harry may have been born here on Earth, but for him, Hyrule is his home now. When my child needs something that we don't have, he either works to obtain the needed money to buy it or else Harry barter for it."

She took a break to take a breath and a few sips of the water in her glass before continuing where she left off

"We hunt, we trap, we forage, we fish and we barter as we need Albus. If the soil would permit it, we would also likely grow crops. We do go in town once in a while; we're not entirely hermits after all. Hell, it's me who make clothes for my boys and I with raw fabrics that I buy at the Market. We are mostly living a secluded life into the wilds. It was for our long term benefit and protection in the end even if we had to adapt to a new lifestyle. The common people of Hyrule are rather fearful of magic, so Sirius and I couldn't teach Harry how to use his powers safely in a village filled with people who fear the supernatural."

Stopping once again to keep the illusion of her humanity, she crossed her arms under her considerable bust, and then started again to talk

"Enrolling Harry into your school would mean that Sirius and I would no longer have any say in his life except during the summers up to his graduation years later. Our lifestyle does not permit us to send him away in a boarding school. And at seventeen years old, he would be considered an adult. No, in my mind it's Sirius' and my job to raise Harry into a good man, not the job of the Hogwarts teachers. Make no mistake, you have a great teaching staff Albus, but I'm not comfortable into sending my only son into a boarding school without any visiting policies bar emergencies with the notable exception for Hogsmeade week-ends. And even then, it was only for Third years and up.

Due to how Sirius and I raised him and the location of where we made our home, I wouldn't be surprised if Harry simply ignored the rules that he couldn't make head or tail of and simply decided to go explore the Forbidden Forest or Hogsmeade on a whim when he would simply get tired of being cooped indoors or on the grounds. My child has freedom and wanderlust singing in his veins Albus; I won't do him the disservice of shackling him unnecessarily. If it means to keep home schooling him, then so be it."

Deciding to throw something that was sure to destabilize the older looking wizard simply because she could (Her surrogate grandfather Zelretch's Trolling ways must have been rubbing a bit on her…), she then added with a self satisfied smirk

"And anyway, Harry doesn't need a focus at all to do magic. So, many if not all of the theory taught in the classes would be utterly useless for my boy. I'm not denigrating Hogwarts, far from it; it's a great magical school but it is just not what my Harry needs really."

Albus knew a losing fight when he saw one and also when it was time to abandon ship so to speak. He was also rather doubtful that young Mr. Potter could do controlled magic without some kind of focus since casting without one was very tiring and rather inaccurate, but he was not in the mood to argue with his former student. It would only lead to a headache. Appealing to the Potter family's tradition of schooling their children in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for centuries since the school's founding would likely not be well received.

Lily had already expressed her opinion about what she truly felt about mindlessly following some ancient and archaic traditions in place of looking for better options. The redhead was a very firm believer of free will. If James was still alive, things might have been different though. Deciding to cut his losses before things got worse, he then said

"Well, it's simply too bad. But if your mind is truly made up, then I know I won't be able to make you see things my way. You always were very stubborn even as a young girl, Lily. Just know that Sirius, young Harry and you are still welcome to stay between these walls for as long as you need and that my offer to enroll your son will still be standing if you happen to change your mind."

Lily smiled graciously and thanked sincerely the Headmaster for his generosity after assuring him that she would keep his offer in mind. Lodging in the castle would save them all the hassle of going down to Hogsmeade or back to the modern world to rent rooms. It would also give her time to teach Harry how to behave in a modern era. It wouldn't do for him to look to out of the norm; after all it was when you were standing out that you were garnering attention. Their family couldn't afford to fall under the Enforcers' scrutiny.

While she could fight them off without any problems, she wasn't about to take any chances while she had her one and only son to protect. The Enforcers were not as bound by laws and strict rules as the Aurors were. Caution was the mother of safety after all. Albus then called a House Elf to him. The House Elf in question was female and Albus asked her to clean and air the Guest quarters for three guests and to send another one of her kind to find Sirius Black to guide him later to the said quarters when everything would be ready. Once everything was settled, the Dead Apostle Ancestor in disguise engaged anew into various topics of conversation with the elderly but still vivacious Headmaster.

Sirius Orion Black was currently bored out of his mind so he was rather glad that Lily (He still tended to call her by her human name and she had grown used to answer to both so it was no skin off his nose) had asked him to go get Harry to get settled in their quarters when they would be ready while she continued to discuss politic matters and whatnots with Albus. It was also for the benefits of the others to see the canine animagus leaving, since a bored Sirius had the tendency to regress back to his teenage self. Once regressed, he then started planning chaos, mayhem and general disorder.

A House Elf would find them once everything was set up, but for now he had to track down his elusive godson. Sirius had never been much of a political animal since the Pureblood supremacist dogma espoused by the majority of his family had killed any and all interests he could have possessed into politics. And the name Cornelius Fudge wasn't ringing any bell for him to be honest. (And it would be one hell of a surprise when he would find out later during his visit to the Bank that he never was officially disowned, thus still in the running for the Headship of the family if he wished to pursue it)

Admittedly he had been far removed from their little corner of the world for a bit more than a decade so he could be excused for his lack of knowledge of recent events. Once he was out of Dumbledore's office after waving off the old man's plea to please not set any pranks, after all Marauder one day, Marauder always, he changed into Padfoot with a single thought and started to sniff the air and the ground once the spiraling staircase dropped him down on the hallway.

He was searching for the particular scent of his Godson, and also for the rather strange but quite unforgettable smell of Twili Shadow magic. The scent had been integral part of Harry since he started using it on purpose years ago. It was not something other Animagi or even animals would recognize, since they haven't being at ground zero many times during its various uses like he had been.

Midna was rarely far from Harry these days when she was not in her Realm doing her duties as a ruler, so Padfoot would more than likely find their scents or their magic near each other's. If the kid had been a few years older, he would have teased him about being attached at the hip with a girl, but James' son was still firmly in the clueless phase. Sirius could be patient; Harry's hormones would wake sooner or later.

If worse came to worse, he could always tease Midna that she was prepping the boy to be her future lover when he came of age or something among those lines. Sirius was very proud of Harry's progress with his education and of his boy in general. (By that point, Sirius considered Harry as much as his son as James') And his prowess with the Shadow magic the Twilight Princess taught him was simply astounding!

The fact that being born half Apostle gave him enough " _magical creature's blood_ " for lack of a better term, to use wand-less magic like it was as easy as breathing astounded the Dog animagus greatly. Sirius was proud of his own talents; he had worked hard to get to his current level and to stay in fighting shape; but Harry simply blew all expectations out of the water. Sirius was able of using a fair bit of wand-less magic, but nothing approaching on his boy's level! The kid was in fact literally _thriving_ in a world like Hyrule. He was taking to the survival courses like a duck took to water!

He was learning how to wield and shoot with a bow for hunting bigger game like Deer and other bigger herbivores, how to skin his prey with the help of a hunting knife and cook his catch over an open fire, Harry was also learning how to forage effectively, which herbs were comestible and which ones were not. Of course being only twelve years old, Harry wasn't expected to be a master of survival yet. But he was making good progress!

It was things that young men from the Wilds were expected to learn if they wished to survive out there and make a living. Sadly, those were skills that were becoming more and more obsolete on Earth as time and society advanced except in the remaining far reaches of the Wilds like in Alaska for example. After a long while of searching a bit everywhere, (damn if the kid hadn't already explored half the castle in a couple of hours or so it seemed…), Padfoot _finally_ found Harry. The boy was currently in the Trophy room, his longing gaze fixated on a Quidditch cup sitting on a shelf behind a panel of glass with his father's name carved on it. _James Potter._

Turning back into Sirius with a mere thought, he was quick to pull the boy into a warm and comforting hug, resting Harry's back against his own torso. While Sirius had done a good job of being the male role model Harry needed in his life while growing up, the kid would always be a bit melancholic while thinking about his long gone father. Sirius would also get a bit maudlin when thinking about his departed brother in all but blood.

Slowly, calmly, Sirius told Harry a new anecdote about his father

"James was a good man, Harry. He was far from perfect though, so don't go and put him on a pedestal. Your dad was flawed, imperfect like everybody else. We had to give him that though, he was a very skilled orator. He managed to talk himself out of trouble numerous times. Not as much as he was getting himself into said trouble, but hey. Of course when he was a teen, around fifteen years old, he also thought he was the Gods' gift bestowed to womankind.

Needless to say, your mother and her girl friends were absolutely not of the same mind. They weren't shy into showing him their displeasure and their disagreement to his thoughts either. It was still hilarious seeing him try again and again only to crash and burn every single time! I remember the first time your mother set her now infamous Bits Buster Hex on us. Let me tell you, it hurt like a bitch and back then we really didn't had much tolerance for pain!

But your father, the brave idiotic fool, he went back and dared her to hit him again so we could flee from her wrath when she was busy working on him. You see, we were busted into trying to override the wards on the girls' dorms' stairs to go raid some knickers. Needless to say, we learned a valuable lesson that day. That if we wanted to succeed in our goal, we would have to become way more subtle and plan better after _that_ particular incident.

It was also when your mother gained the reputation of being the Dragon of Gryffindor Tower. What with her fiery temper and all the "roaring" she used to do when sufficiently angered. Well now she's way more dangerous than she was back then, but to earn such an epithet as a simple teenage witch with a temper, you've got to admit that it was damn impressive."

Harry chuckled a bit at hearing tales of his parents' past. It was good to hear about his father like that. While his mother freely admitted to have being in love with James when she was just Lily; but when she awoke anew as Altrouge, she could no longer say the same. The Ninth Dead Apostle Ancestor had not, could not, simply forgive her deceased husband's vehement insistence of staying to fight in the middle of a bloody civil war that the "Light" side was slowly but surely loosing with a toddler to think about. Any responsible parents' priorities should have been their child's and their own wellbeing shortly after. Even in the backward pureblood wizards' logic, James _should_ have _at least_ ensured his heir's safety. After all, the Potter line had to continue.

But no, he had sadly decided to put his Country and his patriotism for said Country before his family's well-being while he knew full well that the Head Snake was hunting them. And then, he paid the ultimate price for his foolishness. Oh, how Lily had pleaded, try to reason with him, that they had to leave the country at least temporally, if only for Harry's sake. But nothing she tried had worked; not even the few new bedroom tricks she had looked up just for this occasion. And as Lily, she just hadn't being able to bring herself to abandon the love of her life by running away with their child. But she was digressing; it was now too late to do anything about it.

For all her powers, Altrouge Brunestud simply could not resurrect the dead without turning them into Apostles or failing that, into Ghouls. Not that the latter was much of a life anyway. She could have likely brought James back to life as a Dead Apostle under her command if she had bitten with intent of turning him soon after her awakening, but Harry's unexpected tumble into an unstable Twilight Portal had kind of stolen her choice away. It was unclear if the effects of the Killing Curse would have hindered the metamorphosis or not though.

Before her stint as a mortal to quell her sheer boredom, the Ancestors tended to stay away from Wizarding communities as a general rule. The bias and the spiel about "Dark" creatures got quite annoying after a while to be frank. Also, even the most insane of Dark Wizards usually went very much out of their way to avoid the Ancestors' notice since it was safer for their health, so that theory was still untested. Hell, even Gellert Grindelwald, for all his daring, never tried to gather the Ancestors' support for his Global War. And from what info she had on Voldemort, he likely wasn't even aware of the Magi community's existence or he had simply adopted the "out of sight, out of mind" expression that was so rampant among Humanity.

It was much too late to try to bring James back now one way or another even if she had desired to. Once decomposition started, if his body hadn't been cremated beforehand that is, it was too late to do anything. James Charlus Potter was dead and short of a divine intervention (Which was extremely unlikely since The Age of the Gods had long since passed.) or another higher power like Gaia or Alaya, he would stay that way. And even in the very unlikely possibility of him fully coming back from the Other Side, Altrouge wouldn't take him back. While motherhood was an experience she truly enjoyed, married life was not something she really wished to live again. While she currently had no desires for the pleasure of the flesh, being tied to a unique partner no longer held her interest.

After a bit more time passed in reminiscence, a House Elf finally appeared and guided both man and boy to the quarters that had been prepared for them. Once in the apartment, the House Elf popped away after a small formal bow. Seeing Altrouge in her natural form, marble like skin, supernatural beauty and wine red eyes sitting in a chair in their common room while looking at the fire cracking merrily behind the protective grate, the two males approached her and at her request

"Please sit down boys; we have some important things to discuss."

They obeyed, but not before Harry asked her

"Mom, what are you doing here so soon? Weren't you discussing politics and other boring grown-up things with that Dumblydore guy?

Taking a fortifying breath, she answered soon after

"It's Dum-ble-dore my Harry, not Dumblydore. Please be careful, some people can be very touchy about their names, dear."

She corrected gently with an amused smile, before continuing her answer to the previously asked question

"Indeed I was, but he also had more important things to do than to talk with me all day long, so I was escorted here by another House Elf. The school won't run by itself you know. I only just arrived a few minutes ago."

Harry made a noise of understanding that sounded like "ah" before letting his mother continue

"Okay here's the situation. The official details of what happened in Halloween 1981 when Voldemort came for a surprise visit are kind of sketchy. When the Aurors got to the scene, they found James' body. He was sent by portkey to the Ministry's morgue and put in stasis and lockdown while waiting for the Ministry's equivalent to a forensic pathologist to do his job. Standard protocol and all since the Dark moron liked to turn his victims into Inferi."

Seeing Harry's incomprehension, his mother explained

"A corpse reanimated with dark magic or if you prefer, a specifically magical made zombie, kind of like the Redeads found in the hidden crypts around Hyrule or in the Arbiter's Grounds, but without the crippling cry and the obvious weakness to sunlight."

After his nod of understanding, she continued

"From there the responding Aurors secured the scene and the following team of Obliviators modified the memories of the neighbors since when the cottage blew up from the rebounding Killing Curse, the Fidelius charm around our cottage at Godric's Hollow simply failed. They found the ashes, the dark robe and the broken wand of the Dark Idiot on the scene but since we were now long gone, I can only deduce that they never saw the Twilight portal."

Sirius nodded and asked

"It makes sense, but what about the traitorous rat? Did the Aurors managed to capture him or did he escape when he had the chance?"

Altrouge shrugged her shoulders and answered

"From what Albus told me, he's wanted as a person of interest but as we have kept everything hush-hush on purpose and since James didn't name our Secret Keeper in his Will and mine wasn't activated since I wasn't "dead" long enough, the DMLE have no real clue about who is the true culprit. Since you hinted heavily at being our Secret Keeper; it's also "known" that you're also a person of interest to interrogate and that you possibly might have something to do with the whole mess."

Seeing as Sirius was about to protest vehemently, Altrouge told him

"Harry, you and I know the whole unvarnished truth, but not the Ministry of Magic and neither the general public. Which is why, tomorrow we will go setting them straight and then ask the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to launch a nationwide or even an international man hunt to find Peter. He has had almost a dozen years to lie low; so of course we aren't going to find him quite that easily or quickly. But believe me, we _**will**_ find him and make him regret to have ever been born. We will let the Justice do its job but if Pettigrew happens to have a "regrettable accident" while in his cell in Azkaban, well…oops? "

She finished with a small Gallic shrug, a frankly terrifying smile on her pretty face and a false tone of regret.

Ironically, Peter was much closer than they knew, since he was currently sleeping, completely unaware that his now former friends were near, on Ronald Weasley's four poster bed in the Second year boys' Dorm inside Gryffindor Tower. The Guests quarters they currently resided in were not far from the entrance to the Gryffindor Common room.

After letting the matter hang a bit, Altrouge then said

"If the chase takes too long for my tastes, I'll simply ask Grandpa Zelretch for his help. I'm certain he could at least point us in the right direction. Now, before we do anything else, I need to show you how to behave in a modern era my Harry. It is very important to not attract undue attention on our family when we are in public. London is where Clock Tower is located and the Enforcers' presence is also big in the city. While I could easily fight them off especially if I call for Primmy, I really don't want to risk it. Not with your life and Sirius' on the line. It is not every Enforcer whom concerned themselves with collateral damage and/or civilian casualties. So we will go to London tomorrow morning after breakfast."

Harry went to open his mouth, likely to tell some boast about his strength or using his powers to defend himself as needed, but his mother cut him off

"My Harry, Earth is completely different than the Twilight Realm or even Hyrule. Here there is an international law that every human magic user _**must**_ follow or endure severe consequences. By the Root, most of the other supernatural creatures out there around the Globe abide by it, if not to the very letter of the law, at least to the spirit of it, because it makes sense. No one remotely sane, be they Wizard or Magus and even most Ancestors, wish for the revival of the Salem witches trials and/or the Spanish Inquisition. It is called the International Statute of Secrecy. "

Lily then went to explain to her son the fine details of the Statute. What was permitted and also what was not. She touched briefly the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, but since only Sirius was still using a wand and he was an adult, Harry should just make sure to not use magic in front of mundanes or in front of other wizards with some authority outside of the castle and Hogsmeade. Once done, she did something that made Harry highly uncomfortable. To bring him up to speed to be able to interact with the modern world without looking like a fool and thus attracting the attention of the wrong people, she shared her memories with him via legilimency or something rather similar.

It was, in fact, a bastardized fusion of the wizardry technique and her vampiric mind reading. For Harry, mind reading and legilimency were interchangeable even if it was different in reality. But for a boy of twelve, simplicity was the best bet. His mother was always gentle, but it was still weird to have someone rooting into your mind even with your permission. Once the necessary information was "downloaded", for lack of a better term, Harry was sent to take a nap for at least a few hours so his brain could process everything safely. The boy didn't protest, since even with his mother's feather touch, he now had one hell of a headache! And Midna's whispered comments/jibes at his expense weren't making things easier either!

Once the youngest of their strange quartet was gone, Sirius asked his sister in all but blood, one of the very few women he had absolutely no sexual attraction to (The list so far was his deceased mother, the female staff here at Hogwarts and Lily.)

"So what's the plan then? Do we go shopping after a side trip to Gringotts before clearing my name at the Ministry or do we go at James' grave to present our respects first?"

Hearing about her deceased husband out loud, Altrouge couldn't help but scowl briefly. One of her worse traits was that she was very rancorous. James may have been gone for eleven years now, but she still hasn't forgiven him for putting his patriotism for his country before his family's safety. But, she supposed that her son should be given the chance to see where his father was laid to rest. She owed it to Harry to help him in any way she could and making her goodbyes to her deceased husband wouldn't kill her either. It could likely help her in moving on she supposed. He had been a good provider, great in bed and also a good father for the short time he had gotten with their son.

Reluctantly, Altrouge said:

"I suppose we could make a trip to wherever my husband was put to rest once we have cleared everything with the Ministry of Magic and Gringotts..."

Sirius had to fight back a smirk. Here was the big bad Ninth Dead Apostle Ancestor, pouting like a little kid because she had to step on her pride for her son's sake. If she wouldn't take it on his hide, he would have so much teasing material to exploit! But he had to toe the line; her temper was somewhat mercurial, even during good days. (Sirius thought she needed to get laid and badly with that, but he wasn't suicidal so he kept his big mouth shut.)But well, at this stage of her monthly cycle, Lily's temper was downright dangerous, so yeah, Sirius kept it to just silent amusement. It was way much safer for his health. It could never be said that this old dog couldn't learn new tricks!

After breakfast the next day, Altrouge, back into her human form, Sirius and Harry walked down to Hogsmeade. They could have apparated directly once beyond the gates of the Grounds but they had eaten much more richly than usual this morning so they decided that a little bit of exercise would do them some good. Once arrived at the Three Broomstick, the main pub, they entered and made a beeline toward the fireplace. The place was not exactly crowded but it wasn't empty either. A few patrons looked their way, but since Lily and Sirius hadn't been seen in public for years, nobody recognized them.

After a quick explanation about Floo travel and how it worked for Harry's sake, the family of three (Midna was still intangible inside Harry's shadow thus nothing could affect her unless she willed herself tangible once more.) were soon on their way to the Leaky Cauldron. While Lily and Sirius exited the Floo like regular people, Harry was expulsed from the fireplace like a canon ball! He was sent all the way to the other side of the room, barely managing to not come face to face with the opposite wall from his exit point by turning in a manner for his back to take the blow. Thankfully his Apostle body made sure he was not wounded by the violent collision. He was only winded and a bit disoriented.

There was some fuss made by some nearby customers since his exit from the Floo network was not one seen often, but in the end the group managed to leave the pub without any more trouble in direction of Mundane London. Sirius was still snickering at Harry's misfortune though, well that is until a nearby passing car didn't slow down while going through a puddle near the sidewalk and splashed Sirius from head to toe. Now it was Harry's turn to mock the older man for his troubles. They had to find a secluded back alley so Sirius could use magic to dry himself without being seen by the regular people.

Soon, after about ten to fifteen minutes of walking, they were arrived at the Visitors' entrance of the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry building was situated underground in Whitehall. Harry had to force himself to not gape like an idiot at all the buildings around him. After the trio squeezed themselves into the phone box and since Sirius was the closest to the phone, he dialed "62442", which ironically spelled "magic", after taking the handset. Once done, he had to obey the instructions dictated by a recording and once the trio had their badges pinned to their jackets, the elevator took them down to the atrium. From there Altrouge had to hypnotise the Security Guard into ignoring her and Harry's lack of wands.

Hers was most likely gathering dust inside the Potter Family Vault and Harry never had one. He simply had no need for one to begin with. They passed near the rather tacky looking fountain and Lily knew the boys had just gotten the idea to modify it just for laughs. So she subtly shook her head in a negative manner, only to be answered by twin pouts and an inaudible, except for their group, amused giggle from Midna. The trio then went towards the lifts at the end of the Atrium. After determining that the DMLE was on Level two, they shared the lifts with many employees and enchanted paper planes that were hovering near the ceiling of the lift.

Being the more familiar with the Ministry of Magic, Sirius answered Harry's unasked question after seeing his questioning look at the paper planes.

"Those paper planes are in fact inter-department memos. Since electronics doesn't work well with too many magic if they are not properly shielded, they had to find something to communicate with efficacy. The Floo Network was envisaged but it would have been too costly to install so many fireplaces and connect them to a separate network. Before the enchanted paper planes, the Ministry workers used owls for the correspondence. It was messy, what with the birds defecating all over the place. The Maintenance department was really overworked as you can imagine."

He finished with a smirk.

Harry and Lily answered with an amused snort.

Soon enough, the lift stopped at Level Two and a bunch of people and planes left while another batch entered. Since the Dog animagus was more familiar with the Department's layout due to his days as an Auror during the Blood War, both Lily and Harry let him take the lead. After a quick chat with the receptionist, the trio were quickly hustled into the Head Auror's office. He was answering to the name of Rufus Scrimgeour. He was a man with a certain rangy loping grace; he walked with a slight limp, and looked rather like an old lion with grey streaks in his mane of tawny hair and bushy eyebrows. He had also keen yellowish eyes and wore wire-rimmed spectacles.

The man let his eyes roam first on Sirius on the far right, then on Harry who was sitting in the middle and finally on Lily, who was sitting on the far left. To be honest, Rufus was rather surprised to see those individuals in his office. The Potter case was very vexing to be honest and full of holes. Only James Potter' body had been recovered. Lily's status was unknown but presumed dead, what with You-Know-Who having made a personal House call and little Harry's status was also unclear at the time. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were both persons of interest in the case, but no accusations had been deposited.

After a little more than a decade with no new information, three of the five people still alive involved were now in front of him just as he was about to close the case definitively. Rufus had to admit, it was irony at his finest. James' widow looked very good, wherever she was had left her hale and healthy with a stronger build than most magic users. Outside of the DMLE field operatives and professional Quidditch Players, physical conditioning was a rare thing on a wizard or a witch, since their magic usually kept them fit. Sirius was also looking good. Age seemed to have tempered his youthful brashness. If he were to reenlist, he would likely be a much better Auror than before. And that was saying something, since even as a rookie, Black had been very talented.

The thing that surprised him the most was the child's appearance. James and Lily's son was tall for his age but what was showing that he was living a very active lifestyle, was how little baby fat the boy had left on his face and also a developing musculature if he wasn't mistaken. It was also odd for the kid to not be in school, but Scrimgeour wouldn't make a stink about it, since Harry was accompanied by his mother, who was his legal guardian anyway. Also, frankly, playing truant officer was not his idea of fun. He couldn't help to be somewhat impressed by his character though. It wasn't everyday that a kid could stare him in the eyes and not start to fidget nervously.

After letting the silence continue for a few moments longer, Scrimgeour decided to take this show on the road.

"So! After eleven long years away from the country, you finally decided to came back home. If you haven't been presumed dead Mrs. Potter, your absence from the crime scene could have been labelled as an offence of escape and could have landed you into very hot waters. Luckily for you, I'm the one currently in charge of this case and I don't believe in pressing charges before hearing the whole story and all the facts first."

Scrimgeour made a pause then set up on his desk a self inking dicta quill of legal grade flat on a sheet of parchment. With a swish of his wand, the quill was now upright and ready. What the Head Auror hadn't seen or felt was a subtle use of Magecraft during his brief period of inattention. Lily Evans Potter's true identity as Altrouge Brunestud the Ninth Dead Apostle Ancestor wasn't something the Ministry of Magic needed to know. Knowing how prejudiced they were against anything they didn't consider human, if Scrimgeour found out that she was a basically an ancient super vampire and not a regular human witch, Wizarding Child Services would surely get involved.

And when they inevitably try to take away her son's legal custody from her, she would get really mad and would likely go on a bloody rampage similar to those back in her glory days, draining every employee present in the building dry of their blood. Then her family would have to flee the United Kingdom before the Enforcers got involved. With a blood bath of this scale, even Grandpa Zelretch wouldn't be able to help her family in getting the authorities off their trail. Since she wished for her son to see the good things of the Wizarding World, Altrouge cheated with some clever use of Magecraft so the legal grade Dicta quill and the man in front of them would accept the "official story" of what happened in Halloween 1981.

This way, she was reasonable and avoided a massacre of the level she used to pull during her Glory days. It was a win-win scenario in her not so humble opinion. Not that she particularly cared about the Ministry's employee's lives one way or another, but Altrouge had to lead by example for her son's sake. Sometimes she really missed being a spoiled brat with much more power than sense…life was way easier back then. She hadn't to bother with pesky morals and societal norms unless she truly wished it. But she would not trade her son for anything else in the world. Motherhood was such a life altering experience; she wouldn't change it for anything.

Coming back to reality when she heard the older man clear his throat, Lily had the good grace of looking embarrassed and after the tests were made to see that everything was in order, Scrimgeour made sign for her to start her tale. Thus went the official story. It began with how Voldemort came around for an unexpected social visit that fateful Halloween night, refusing to take "no" for an answer and barging in uninvited. Then it led to James fighting against the very rude mad man to buy his wife and child some precious time to hopefully escape. But Riddle was nothing if not thorough when he truly wanted somebody dead. He had spelled every wall, every window and every door leading outside the cottage imperturbable and put up personalized anti transport wards.

Then Lily related how James had managed to severely wound the Dark Idiot but paid the price with his life. Riddle then made his way to the nursery where she had barricaded herself and her baby for lack of other options. She had tried to break the window in the nursery with the intent to escape with her son, despair giving her greater strength, but only managed to make cracks. In her haste to take her son to safety, she had foolishly left her wand downstairs on the kitchen table and while able to do some spells without the use of her focus, she sadly wasn't strong and/or skilled enough to fight for her life and her son's without it. Then, the time to lie out of her ass came.

She had indeed plead for Voldemort to spare her child and to kill her instead, but the truth about their survivals was not information to be shared with the Ministry. A Black Blood contract, a willing sacrifice and being a Dead Apostle Ancestor incarnated as a human were Top Secrets. So she said that the Dark Lord knocked her out because she was categorically refusing to move from the side of her son's crib. But she had laced the said crib with experimental spells and numerous protection rituals in hope that _something_ would work.

When she came to, Harry was alive, relatively unharmed except a few scratches but bawling his lungs out. (The now healed and completely gone lightning shaped scar and the nasty surprise behind it were not something she wished to share either...) The only things left of their unwanted evening visitor were a pile of ashes, his wand and his robe. The wand had been broken when she had stepped on it accidentally while rushing to take her baby into her arms. From there, Sirius took the reins, willing to start explaining his part of the story. Before he could start in earnest though, Scrimgeour wanted a clarification.

"So since you're still in good terms with Mrs. Potter and her son, I can deduce that you never were the Secret Keeper of their Fidelius?"

Sirius was quick to answer

"Yes, you assumed right. No, I was not the Secret Keeper, I was meant to be a decoy. Everyone knew I was James' brother in all but blood. I was too obvious a choice. We though ourselves clever and wished to play a prank on the dark idiot by making Peter Pettigrew the Secret Keeper. He always had an inferiority complex crippling his potential while we all knew that he was a skilled wizard when he put his mind to it. We thought by offering him something this important would make him feel wanted, to make him feel he was belonging with us. There was also a spy in Dumbledore's group of vigilantes, the Order of the Phoenix.

Remus Lupin was suspected due to his lycanthropy and the fact that he was so often abroad. But we were wrong, Pettigrew betrayed us to the Head Snake and now, James is dead."

He finished with a tone mixed with regrets, anger and sadness.

The rest of the interview went rather well. What little holes the official story left was covered by Altrouge's Magecraft. They then left the Ministry of Magic with Sirius' name completely cleared once all formalities were done. An arrest warrant would be issued for Peter and after paying a fine for being an unregistered Animagus since they had to out the Marauders' secret to make sure the Aurors knew what to look for, they were also informed of where James was laid to rest. He had been buried in the cemetery of Godric's Hollow. Finding Remus' location would be more difficult tough.

While Werewolves had to register to the right office at the Ministry to be eligible for their free monthly doses of Midol (A recent graduate Half-blood Witch had found out that the muggle medicine for alleviate the menstrual cramps was very effective on Weres, easing the symptoms of lycanthropy even more than the Wolfsbane potion. The potion was a somewhat recent invention by Damocles Belby. Thus the Ministry of Magic had started to buy it in bulk since the cost of the medicine was much more reasonable than the ingredients for the said Wolfsbane potion.) their addresses was confidential. Thus they would have to track Remus down the old fashion way. That is sending him a letter via Owl post and simply hope for a swift answer.

Sometimes, Altrouge was really exasperated by the Wizards. Even Magi, as reluctant as using technology as they were, had at least embraced the telephone and the use of an answering machine! Oh well, now that they were done with the Ministry, they had to head back to Diagon Alley since they had to make withdrawals to Gringotts. She would also have in the near future to open them a bank account each in the Muggle world to not always go exchanging their gold for pounds.

The trek there was quick and now they were ascending the marble stairs from the street leading to the doors with nonchalance. Since Apostles like herself or Hybrids like her son and Goblins didn't run into the same circles generally, Lily wasn't really concerned of being detected by the Bank's wards. Customer confidentiality and their sovereignty on and under the bank's soil were very big things for the Gringotts Goblins.

It's not like Goblin blood was good to drink anyway. On the contrary, it was as unappealing as it could be for a blood sucker. She drank one dry a thousand years ago as curiosity and it repeated on her for a whole decade! She swore to never drink Goblin blood ever again after that particular episode! So with those thoughts in mind, Lily was the first one through the doors. But it was Harry who stopped for a bit to read the poem/warning engraved on the side wall.

 **Enter, stranger, but take heed**

 **Of what awaits the sin of greed**

 **For those who take, but do not earn,**

 **Must pay most dearly in their turn.**

 **So if you seek beneath our floors**

 **A treasure that was never yours,**

 **Thief, you have been warned, beware**

 **Of finding more than treasure there.**

Harry wasn't sure why, but reading that poem/warning gave him the willies. It's not like he had any thievery plans, so why would he be scared? He had been raised to recognize the valor of honest and hard work after all. They were ushered quickly into a spartanly decorated office once the family's Account Manager was made aware of their presence. In resume, their finances were assured in the Wizarding World and would be in the Muggle World too once their mundane bank accounts would be settled. Gringotts would take care of everything for a reasonable fee. Also the investments his mother made back then had bore fruits, replenishing the diminished Potter Fortune at a rather steady rate.

While the family was very comfortable cash wise, most of their gold was tied into investments and their principal source of income came from the shares they had bought in promising companies. From what Harry could understand, his father was no business mogul when he was alive, but was smart enough to put the good people in charge of managing everything in his stead while he was fighting in the war against the terrorist who fashioned himself a Dark Lord. While he was rather ambivalent about the supposed Dark Lord Voldemort, Midna felt nothing but derision and sheer disgust towards him. Compared to Zant or hell, even Ganondorf, the British Dark Lord was a mild irritant at best on the power scale.

" _Anybody who creates a phylactery and put it inside a child should be put to death by beheading. The death of traitors is truly fitting for such a blasphemous act._ "

She was very serious when she uttered that sentence. When asked to give further details on her possible plans, she simply changed the subject though. Harry took the hint and didn't try to pester her further on that particular subject.

After getting enough funds for the shopping spree in both worlds and after Sirius made an appointment with the Black family Account Manager, Lily dragged her boys, blind and deaf to any of their protestations, out of the bank towards the shops of the Alley for what promised to be a hellish shopping trip. The boys could only whine in defeat while Midna found the whole thing hilarious. Let the shopping begin!


	6. Chapter 5

**Harry Potter and his Princesses**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Author's Notes:** _Well, my muse seems to want to work on this one. I don't plan to write much time on Harry's early teenagehood since my mind won't stop conjuring interesting scenarios from when he's older. I will resume the events of the Chamber of Secrets, but the school drama and the tension felt by the students and the Staff due to the petrifactions are not what interest me. The fight against the Basilisk is going to have more a significant importance for Harry's development than in canon though. I also decided to trim down the harem I was planning for our protagonist, since I really don't feel comfortable into putting so many characters on the forefront._

 _The title of the story is still valid, Harry is going to attract many princesses' affections, but it won't be classical relationships. Also I refuse to have Primate Murder, the_ _Beast of Gaia_ _, have the size and shape of a small dog with rabbit ears. It's likely going to be closer in size to Moro, the Wolf Goddess from Princess Mononoke. Also if I haven't done it by the time this get published, I will retcon something I said in chapter 2, about how Harry isn't able to use the_ _Twilight Portals_ _just yet. He now can, but in exchange he won't have figured the way to create the_ _Twilight Barriers_ _yet. Now let's take a look at the Stats. We have_ _ **54**_ _Reviews,_ _ **564**_ _Followers,_ _ **460**_ _Favourites,_ _ **10**_ _C2 Communities and_ _ **26 811**_ _Views. Thank you everyone for your continued support. Now, let's get this show on the road._

 **A quick reminder:** _In this universe of mine, thus contrary to canon, Pandora Lovegood survived her spell crafting accident when Luna was nine. But her attempt to play with outworldly forces made certain Ancient Beings take an active interest in their family since the faulty spell gave them an unexpected door to this world, that is Earth I. It is not know yet if the said interest from those Ancient Beings is a good or a bad thing. It depend of your point of view really. ;)_

The Shopping trip could be resumed by three very simple words by the boys. Hell on Earth. They had not only visited what seemed to have been every store on Diagon Alley, but also almost all the shops located on Knockturn. One very suicidal Hag tried to grab him when they passed past Borgin and Burkes, but since there was no witnesses around, she became a quick snack on the go for Altrouge. With a quick Vanishing charm, there was no more body to be found once she was drained of her blood. Waste not, want not. Or something similar. Harry wasn't troubled much, it was not the first time he saw his mother drain an enemy dry of their blood after all. While the Upper Zora River Region of the Lanayru Province in Hyrule had no true crime except for Harry and the younger Zoras' antics, it was not so in the entire Kingdom.

One time during a resupply trip for the Zoras where there was no sign of civilisation nearby, the family had been attacked by a band of roaming bandits that had so far managed to escape the notice of Hyrule's soldiers. Needless to say the second Harry was grazed by a flying arrow, Lily took the back seat and Altrouge Brunestud made her first carnage in decades once she was firmly set in the driver seat. In the end, not a single outlaw escaped with their lives and their bodies intact. It was also the day that Harry learned firsthand that life was not fair, that the world was not black and white either and that sometimes, you have to take a life in order to keep yours. Those were very valuable lessons to be learned even if Sirius was of the opinion that the child had discovered them too early. Harry, as a child, should enjoy a simple happy life and his innocence for as long as it could last.

And once the trio was done with the magical shopping district, they begun anew in the regular world. They took the Tube to a big Mall which name Harry couldn't recall for the life of him. The bright spot in the sheer torture of having to shop for an entire wardrobe was trying some Fast food at one of those restaurants inside the Mall. Harry had to admit that it was quite different from his usual fare, but it was an enjoyable experience all the same. After everything was over, Harry was ready to call it a day and go back to Hogwarts to relax. Maybe he could take advantage of having at his disposition a near infinite supply of water he didn't need to heat beforehand for a good piping hot shower? But they still had a stop to make. Sirius insisted that they had to go to his father's grave today and not tomorrow or in a few months.

"We are going today and that's final. Lily, we already talked about this before. Multiple times even. Harry deserve to see his father's final resting place. If you simply can't put in the effort, then go back to the castle and I'll go with Prongslet alone. I am perfectly able to side-along apparate him safely to Godric's Hollow and back to Scotland. And even then, he's already able to apparate himself as you very well know."

He finished in a surprising stern tone of voice. It was on her insistence after all, that he had enchanted their home with very powerful Anti-Apparition Wards when Harry was younger, to make sure he wouldn't pop away somewhere randomly.

Lily seemed to be about to argue against it some more but managed to hold her tongue. She was about to let her resentment and grudges take over once again. She really should work on those weaknesses of hers one day soon. Those and her temper were her worse traits. Nodding her head to Sirius, she answered

"Yes, you are right Sirius. I'm sorry, I shouldn't let my past problems with James cloud my mind. We had better get a move on if we want to come back to the castle for supper. I'm not in the mood to eat at another restaurant."

Sirius accepted with a nod of the head, while Harry was wondering why his mother simply couldn't just let it go. His father has been dead for at least a decade by now. In his opinion, holding a grudge against a dead man was kind of dumb. But Harry wasn't going to tell her that to her face though. The last time he made a few smart-ass remarks about her obvious character flaws, she literally showered him with chores for a month as punishment for being "too disrespectful"!

He had to do all of his own, almost all of Sirius' and also almost all of his mother's! No, this Potter had definitely learned when it was better to keep his big mouth shut. There was nothing more embarrassing for a pre-teen to be forced to clean his mother's undergarments by hand in the laundry tub while she was supervising to make sure he didn't cheat by using magic...

Once outside the mall, they had to find a remote location where they wouldn't be observed so they could shrink their purchases to a more manageable size and disapparate from London. Once they were in an appropriate private place, Sirius went ahead and Harry's mother took him with her. Side-along apparition was still as uncomfortable as ever even after a few trips. Right here right now, Harry decided that for going back to Hogwarts, he would open a twilight portal. It was much more comfortable way of getting around than apparition. He was lucky that he had had the foresight to set a beacon on the castle. Maybe he should do the same for other places they would visit in the near future? It was food for thoughts.

Godric's Hollow held a certain charm in Harry's eyes. The whole rural feel reminded him a bit of Ordon Village in the Ordona Province in the south of Hyrule but without the feeling of a farming community. Frankly he was feeling much more at ease in Hogsmeade and in this village than in central London. All that technology and those lifeless buildings were making him feel quite out of place. And don't make him talk about the pollution! Bah! The information download his mother gave him helped Harry to not make a fool of himself and to not stand out in the wrong way, but it didn't help him feel at ease with everything that was the capital city of the United Kingdom.

The walk to the local graveyard was done in silence. Sirius was evidently trying very hard to not let his emotions overwhelm him, Harry was trying to soak up as much as possible the peace of the countryside (So far he really didn't like the big city. Too noisy and smelly for his tastes.) and Lily, well she was now planning mentally to contact Grandpa Zelretch quickly, like in a day or two, for a lift somewhere so she could feed. The hag's blood from this morning could only delay the inevitable for so long after all. Once the trio found themselves in front of James' grave, the trio focused completely on it and the present moment.

It was no longer time to let their minds wander. Sirius was the first to fall on his knees before the tombstone, a mournfully heartbreaking howl escaping his lips that sounded more like a wounded beast than anything a human in distress could emit. Harry was now feeling very inadequate. What was he supposed to do now? What was he supposed to feel? Yes, Sirius and his mother had shared with him everything they could about his dad. But for Harry, even with all the stories and the anecdotes he had been told about the man, his father was still basically a stranger. All he had of the man was an handful of half remembered and fading memories.

The whole thing was turning into one hell of a clusterfuck for lack of a better word, with Sirius now apologizing to the headstone for all his perceived failures, both right and imaginary in between his sobs and beast like howls filled with agony and grief, his mother was currently doing a great imitation of a marble statue and him absolutely not knowing what to do. No longer able to take any more of this horrible scenario, the boy snapped his right index and thumb together, generating a small flash of grey smoke and a stronger sound than normal with the movement. High in the sky just above their position, a roughly square looking mosaic of green and black lights appeared with a green clockwise spinning vortex in the centre.

Before Lily or Sirius could do anything to stop him, his body started to dematerialize in Twilight particles starting from his head all the way down to his feet and was quickly absorbed into the portal, which disappeared as if it has never been there in the first place once the warp was completed. If Harry had looked towards his mother when she saw him starting to warp away, he would have seen her pinch her nose in slight irritation from the incoming headache. Of all the powers available to him that her precocious son had to master first, it just had to be an unique mode of teleportation none of them could copy or even override… How to ground a child to his room when he had been misbehaving when he could just vanish at will without anything to hinder him?

Back to Hogwarts, it was to an almost but not quite empty Great Hall that Harry Potter rematerialized in a flurry of black squarish looking Twilight particles. There was the odd older students having a free period sitting at their House Table who saw the replica of the Twilight Portal appear on the enchanted ceiling and the Twilight particles passing through the building and combining together before taking the form of the pre-teen starting from his feet up to his head. Not caring about having been seen using an unknown type of magic and also not in the mood to stay here, he quickly made his way up to their quarters, unaware and/or uncaring about the rumours already flying about Sirius, his mother and his reappearance after Dumbledore made an announcement concerning them during lunch.

It was once he was in front of the painting guarding the Guest Quarters they had been assigned that Harry remembered that Sirius or his mother had both forgotten to give him the password. While his Twili abilities were strong and rather developed for a child of his age, Harry couldn't alter his mass density just yet. So he resolved to ask Midna's help via their telepathic bond.

" _Hmm, Midna? Sorry to bother you for something so trivial, but could you pass through the wall an open the door for me please? Mom and Sirius seems to have forgotten to give me the password to enter._ "

Midna had been drifting in and out of unconsciousness all day, taking naps and keeping silent while observing this new world from the safety of Harry's shadow. While she hadn't participated in the conversations, it didn't mean that she wasn't listening. So far she had seen the difference between the hidden magical community and the rest of the regular society. The differences were quite striking. She was brought out temporarily out of her pensive mood when she felt Harry use her Tribe's Shadow magic to teleport away from the cemetery where his father was laid to rest but stayed silent during his trip in the various corridors of the castle they were staying for the moment. When the question came, she couldn't help but snort in amusement.

Harry's progress with her Tribe's magic was rather weird if she was to be honest. He was able to master the harder stuff like creating Portals, setting beacons for future travels and conjuring things like weapons rather easily, but he was still unable to alter his mass density or even create barriers yet. She wasn't even considering the idea of ever making him try the Fused Shadows though; since it was highly inadvisable for any beings without Twili blood to touch them. She didn't want him to turn into a mutated monster that they would have to inevitably put down for its own good. Back then, it had been sheer luck that Darbus had survived his transformation into Fyrus and his defeat at her and Link's hands! It sure showed how Gorons had an incredible life force. Chasing her morbid thoughts away, she answered him back

" _Sure, no problem kiddo. Just give me a second will you?_ "

Midna was quick to pass through the wall and once on the other side, with nary a thought she became solid and pushed open the rotating wall. Harry was quick to enter and to close the door behind him. Shifting back to her real form, the Twilight Princess followed the young boy who ran to his room. Once there, she could see him sitting against the headboard of his bed, hugging his knees against his chest. Silently, she joined him on the bed and offered him comfort with her presence. She could have tried to make him talk, but the current silence was not uncomfortable. He would tell her what's wrong when he was ready to do so.

Both were quiet for an unknown lapse of time. Then slowly, Harry began to talk.

"It was bad. Very bad. We had just reached my dad's grave when Sirius just fell on his knees and started to howl like a wounded animal out of the blue. He started to cry and howl in between taking blame for everything under the sun and mom was just staying there, silent and still as a marble statue. I couldn't take it anymore so I opened a twilight portal and teleported back here. I almost decided to go back to the Twilight Realm and then back home in Hyrule, but without you or me, mom and Sirius can't jump Dimensions. I couldn't abandon them here all alone."

Midna couldn't really say anything. She wasn't in Altrouge/Lily and Sirius' lives when James was still alive and part of their lives. Harry barely remembered his father who had fallen in battle, trying to give his family time to escape a monster. But she could offer him a good hug.

"Come on don't be so glum, munchkin. Things will get better. Well, it will likely be after a short while. Because if I know your mother, she's bound to give you a good tongue lashing for leaving like that without telling her where you were going first."

She finished with an amused tone of voice after putting the younger boy on her lap, hugging him against her breasts all the while letting her fingers play into his messy hair. Letting a pleased noise came out of his throat, his eyes closing by themselves, Harry looked like either like a dog or a big cat blissed out of his mind. Midna couldn't help but chuckle with fondness and amusement. He was simply too cute. She wondered if those traits were signs of his inner animal. It was a subject of one of her late night discussions with Sirius, his ability to turn into a massive dog at will. Admittedly the dog was not as good looking as her deceased ex-lover's animal form, but hey. Nobody was perfect.

Animagus transformation that he had called it. Was it safe to start Harry on the process while he was that young or should they wait a few years? Thinking back to the kid's current schedule, that is learning how to survive off the land, his chores, his tutoring in mundane and magical subjects and his sword training on top of everything...Yeah, he was much too busy right now for something that time consuming. She would bring back the subject in a few years once his survival training was completed. There was no need to cut into his precious free time for more training. And while she wasn't a swordswoman, Midna knew enough about swordplay that a teacher could only get you so far and that you only improved past a certain point by regular and constant practice and/or by facing more and more difficult challenges.

Once Sirius and Lily were back, they were too drained mentally and emotionally to eat in the Great Hall with everybody. So they called up an House Elf who was quite happy to bring them all something to eat. While lily/Altrouge had no need to eat, it was still pleasant and she had a cover to maintain. Surprisingly, Harry hadn't been scolded for leaving without telling where he was going first. The boy wasn't about to look at a gift horse in the mouth, so he made sure to stay far away from that subject when brought into conversations by the adults in his life.

In Gryffindor Tower, more precisely in the First Year Girls' Dorm, young Ginny Weasley was currently pouring her daily doses of worries, woes, insecurities and without her knowing, parts of her very soul, inside her diary. But it wasn't a regular magical diary, for it seemed to be sentient and wrote back. By this point, she had tried to get rid of it many times after one blackouts too many, but it's hooks were deep in her young and fragile psyche. What no one knew, was that the diary was the catalyst for the reopening of the infamous Chamber of Secrets and all the attacks on the school population since Halloween. Now, today Ginny was pouring her excitement about Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, finally resurfacing.

Of course, earlier in the year, Ginny was asked to explain what that title represented and why it was given to a eighteen months child of all people. The most popular and frankly believable rumour about the events of that fateful night said that You-Know-Who came to kill the Potters in person on the date of October 31th 1981. It was said that he killed James Potter first before climbing the stairs to the nursery and then killed Lily Potter. But when he turned his wand towards baby Harry tried to kill him, something strange and frankly unexpected happened.

The Killing Curse rebounded upon the toddler's forehead and before he could try to dodge, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was quite ironically felled by his very own spell. Baby Harry Potter had survived with only a lightning bolt scar on his forehead as a memento of the attack that had killed his parents. Hence his epithet. He had survived something that no one else had before him.

It was also heavily believed that young Harry Potter had some sort of unknown power that had activated that night, thus permitting him to survive what nobody else before him had. The spell used wasn't classed as Unforgivable for nothing. The name of the curse told everyone about its effects. The Killing Curse. But then, something happened to disprove at least part of what was the most reasonable theory in the eyes of the "Ministry Experts". Lily Potter had survived that fateful night. All the inhabitants of Hogwarts Castle had seen the woman hale and hearty walking about.

To make a long tale short, the being inside the diary was now _**very**_ interested into the surviving Potters. More into the boy than in the woman...The Mudblood must have been very lucky or the Dark Lord must have had a very bad day when he went to get rid of some problematic elements, there were no other possible logical explanations. Tom, for it was the name of the "being" inside the diary, categorically refused to acknowledge even the slightest possibility that the Dark Lord could have been bested by such filth. But maybe it was time for a change of plan? Cleaning the sacrosanct Halls of this prestigious learning institution from all the riffraff and the unworthy (Mudbloods, Half-Breeds, Squibs and Blood Traitors) polluting it didn't seem to hold as much appeal as before…

Later that night, in Ravenclaw Tower, also in the First Year Girls' Dorm a statuesque beauty of a green haired woman with elven like ears appeared near one Luna Lovegood's four posters bed. The woman exuded a definite supernatural beauty what with her long forest green tresses falling to her shoulder blades. Her skin was lightly bronzed, showing that she likely could often be found outside under the sun. Her heart shaped face, her kissable lips and her forest green eyes currently illuminated from an internal light were simply things that added to her clearly supernatural beauty. Strangely, she was only wearing a dark green chiton like short tunic with a black belt below her considerable bust. In front of the belt, there was a golden symbol of tree distinct golden triangles forming a bigger one. Strangely, this ethereal woman was barefoot.

One second there was no one in the dorm except those sleeping there, the next the supernatural woman appeared from nowhere. With a casual wave of her hand, the other girls went into a deep enchanted sleep. Nothing would wake them up until she lift the spell. Then she went to the bed closest to the window where a young blonde girl was currently sleeping. The greenette sat near the bed's occupant and turned into a way to be able to caress the young girl's hair. Then, on a whim, the woman started to sing quietly in the ancient tongue of her people. After a certain time, young Luna Lovegood, a first year Ravenclaw already shunned for her differences and for her strange beliefs began to awaken. After making sure that it was not a dream, the little girl said rather surprised

"Huh...Wha…? * _Yawn_ * Who…? Lady... Farore?! What are you doing here?! I thought the Gods had rules against meeting with mortals outside of Temples? Won't you get into trouble with your sisters or the Lady Hylia for breaking the rules for Gods that Lady Nayru told us about?"

Farore, Goddess of Courage and one of the Kingdom of Hyrule and the planet it rested on creators, smiled enigmatically for an answer. Usually, Luna would be right. On her home planet, the Ancient Laws enacted by the Primordial Entities that gave birth to her kind forbid any direct contact with mortals unless it was in a Temple dedicated to her or her sisters. And even then, it was preferred to do so via a third party. There were exceptions to the rules of course, but they were quite few. It was because of these rules that there were no Demigods running around in their world. But here, on this Planet Earth, where the Age of the Gods was now long gone, there was nobody left to enforce such Laws.

There was no Pantheons currently active here whose feathers would have likely been ruffled at the very least by her current actions. There was that unique metaphysical God whose presence she could somewhat feel, but so far He and His supposed Agents had not made any moves in answer to their Golden Trinity's intrusion on their territory. Farore and her sisters were part of a divine trio; her sisters were not her superiors, but her equals. Some of their Followers had the weird idea, a few centuries ago, that Din was the leader of their trio. But it was completely false of course. The goddess Hylia was also not part of the "Golden Trinity" ; but she was not their superior either. Hylia's Domains were simply different than theirs. Farore's introspection having lasted only a second or two, she answered Luna

"Don't you worry about me, my sweet girl. If there was a problem I would have handled it. I came to see you because I need your help with something discreetly."

Luna, always eager to help one of her few friends, even if said friend was an all-powerful goddess from another world taking a much deserved vacation into this one, answered after pushing aside her irritation at having being woken up in the middle of the night

"What can I do to help you, Milady?"

Farore wasn't one for stuffy titles and Court talk usually, but Luna seemed to like to talk to her like that and since she was quite fond of the little blond waif, the Goddess of Courage let her address her however she liked, hence the reverential tones. Getting to the point of her visit, the deity explained

" I am not certain if you knew it, but my current Champion is now back to his world of origin, here. Something else you should you know, is that my sisters and I both made a risky gamble a few decades ago. We decided to mess with the eternal cycle of the latest Incarnations of both the Hero of Legend and The Princess of Destiny fighting a war since time immemorial against the latest Incarnation of the Demon King. Due to my sisters and I meddling,Young Harry Potter is the current Host for the Spirit of the Legendary Hero. But before subtly guiding him on the right path to help him accomplish his Destiny, he must first be tested to see if he is worthy of the Legacy currently sleeping inside him."

She paused a bit to gather her thoughts and to give Luna a chance to process everything said so far before continuing

"As much as I would wish that this new Incarnation could have had it easier than his predecessors, my sisters and I truly needs to know if all that extra work we did to set things up this Reincarnation Cycle was worth it. This is where you would come in, my dear. Since I cannot appear in front of him right now; you, Luna, would be my Herald; if you accept of course. My voice would be your voice. My Decrees would pass through your mouth. To help you on this task, that you accept my offer or not, I offer you this boon. "

This time, Farore had to pause because Luna was nos moving to sit on the mattress, or else she would simply go back to sleep before the Goddess was done with her and it would be very much impolite. Once settled, the divine being continued

"There is an ancient and monstrous creature currently roaming the corridors of this castle. It is that creature which is responsible for the attacks on the student body. You would need to tell young Harry that he _**must**_ slay the beast to prove himself worthy of being the Legendary Hero. He can ask for help for this trial, in fact he can look for all the help he may needs. After all even as formidable he already is and even with the help of his rather unusual powers, vanquishing such an ancient foe at his age won't be an easy task. But also warn him that he _**alone**_ must deal the finishing blow or else he will have failed the task set in front of him.

The infamous Beast of Slytherin is in fact a thousand years old Basilisk. Feel free to tell him as soon as possible if he is nice to you. If he's not, well then you can get even with him by withholding the information for a while longer or by simply go tell all you learned to a responsible adult. After the Beast is felled, I will appear to him and explain what I expect of him or more likely have another third party do it in my stead. After all, I need to keep some of the mystery alive no? Now are you willing to be my Herald, Luna? "

She finished while smiling impishly with an added mischievous wink.

Luna listened attentively to her immortal friend's words and committed them to memory. It was important after all, no matter her decision. When the offer of becoming the mischievous Goddess' Herald came up again, Luna said in a voice getting drowsier as time passed

"Lady Farore, it's the middle of the night. I'm sorry but I need to sleep. I also can't make an important decision just like that without thinking about it first. I'll write to my parents after classes tomorrow and see what they think when they answer, then I'll give you an answer after we have talked about it. Mummy and Daddy would be disappointed if I did not ask them first."

The green haired goddess blinked with incomprehension for a short instant, then realized that Luna was still a young child of eleven years old and that she truly needed her rest. Even as precocious and intelligent as she was, the girl was still mortal and thus had limits that immortal beings like her tended to forget to take into account. After a few more minutes of innate chat, and seeing a visibly struggling to stay awake Luna, Farore took the obvious hint and left. One second she was there, the next she was gone. No flash of light, no spectacular departure, nothing.

A few days later, there was a secret conference between the Lovegood family and the Goddess of Courage. For the occasion, Farore took Luna home for a few hours since it was the easiest way to do things. In the end, after much explanations and promises of not sending the girl into any dangerous situations before she was old enough to deal with it, Luna was permitted to accept the Goddess' offer. The Goddess was glad to have a trusted agent in this world, since otherwise the message for her Champion would have been much harder to deliver. Luna was then presented with a pearl with rather fetching tones of green. There was a nice coloured band of forest green followed by a larger band of olive green.

In the centre of the pearl were two half moons in forest green, the larger half moon behind the smaller one, then a complete circle inside the smaller half moon. Of course in between the shapes there were small bands of olive green colours. When first conjured by the Goddess, the pearl was bigger than Luna's hand, but after a little adjustment it was resized to fit on a small chain to form a pendant. When Luna asked what would happen if someone tried to take Farore's Pearl away from her, the emerald green haired deity only raised a delicate eyebrow and answered

"Luna, with that pearl now resting around your neck, only the most powerful of Curses will be able to hurt you. Also, only you can remove it from your neck now. I also made very sure that the chain won't hurt you if it's pulled on. Don't misunderstand me though; you are not invulnerable because of my gift. For example, if you accidentally fell you could still get scraps and scratches on your skin. But any harmful magical spell or potions going in your direction except for the darkest of magics will be blocked entirely. It will also serve as a proof for those who don't believe your words that you are now speaking in my name."

This was how Luna Lovegood, an eleven years old British Witch and First Year Ravenclaw became part of Hyrule's most distinguished individuals without having ever set foot upon that world.

A few days later, down in the Dungeons, more precisely in the Slytherin's Common Room; in a secluded corner removed from where Draco Malfoy was currently trying and mostly falling to endear the older students to him, sat Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. After their encounter with the strange supernaturally gifted boy and venting her frustrations, the blonde Earthbender finally listened to her common sense and reason. Yes, he was following them and was under camouflage. But she shouldn't have attacked him out of the blue like that without warning him her defeat at his hands had left a sour taste in her mouth, she was feeling quite guilty about being such a sore loser and sending him into a close meeting head first with a stone wall. What if he had been badly hurt?

Then an announcement during Lunch the other day had elucidated a lot of mysteries. The newcomers were Lily Potter nee Evans, Sirius Black and Harry Potter himself! Mind you, Daphne never bought into the whole Boy-Who-Lived craze since her parents weren't the sort to start acclaiming somebody like a deity at the say so of a government or a newspaper. Even less when that somebody is a toddler when everyone with a lick of logic and common sense could tell that it was likely something Lily Potter did that defeated the Dark Lord. Not some sort of nebulous power possessed by the fifteen months old child.

While traditionalists and believing that a good pedigree was important to get anywhere in their community, her parents and her grandparents before them had never been part of the Dark Lord's crowd and thus her sister and her had not been raised as Blood Supremacists. The Greengrass family may be one of those "Sacred twenty-eight" vaunted by the Ministry of Magic, but in fact they were renowned for their neutrality.

But Daphne was in fact very interested into Potter's magical capacities. He had used _**controlled**_ wandless magic and it was something that was seen as highly difficult and extremely rare in their society. He had conjured a very sophisticated looking sword with such ease that it was disconcerting! And the blade had been of a very high quality if it could clash repeatedly against a spear made of stone without breaking after a few hits! Maybe she could kill three birds with one stone? She could apologize for her horrid conduct of the other day, see if he was alright with no lasting sequels from his introduction to one of Hogwarts' stone walls and then discuss his strange powers with him. No matter what Tracey said, it was not because he had beautiful green eyes and not because his smile was giving her butterflies in her stomach!

She _**did not**_ had a crush on Harry bloody Potter for Salazar's sake! She had only met him once! To get away from such thoughts and the knowing smirk of her best friend, the blonde with forest green eyes got up from her chair and stalked with a determined gait towards the exit of the Common Room. Daphne would learn in a few years that Denial ain't just a river in Egypt… _*snickers*_

While Daphne and Tracey were now actively searching the school for Harry's whereabouts once they left the Slytherin Common Room, the twelve years old boy was currently roaming the upper floors of the castle with no clear plans in his head. Currently he was on the fifth floor and was crossing a corridor filled with knights' armors. Some were armed with flails, one or two even had pretty menacing looking morning stars, other were equipped with maces of all sorts, and quite a few had very realistic looking scottish claymores in their hands.

Harry was trying to not let too much of his anxiety show and overwhelm him. Midna was currently taking a nap in her true form and her mother would be gone for a few days with her surrogate grandfather. Sure, Sirius was still around to keep an eye on him, but he couldn't help feeling unsettled since she would have to let go all the savage instincts she had kept a tight grip on for years so she could satiate her thirst for blood. It was one of the downsides of being a Dead Apostle Ancestor. He was not afraid of her, but more afraid _**for**_ her. What if she couldn't get her murderous instincts back under control once she was sated? What if she couldn't quench her thirst for blood at all? His mother was the centre of his world. He truly loved his godfather, yes but it wasn't the same. Then he shook his head and told himself out loud:

"Stop doubting your mother, Potter. You know exactly what, who and how strong she truly is. She'll be just fine. Sit tight and just make sure Sirius doesn't do something stupid in the meantime."

Then he stopped talking to himself when he heard two unknown male voices coming near his position. The voices were similar to each others, but also different at the same time. Following his instincts that were telling him to hide, Harry melded with the shadow of the nearest suit of armour. From what he could hear, the two boys were bantering back and forth about pranks done on somebody called "Ronniekins" and on a few "slimy" Slytherins. They were also calling themselves Gred and Forge. Likely nicknames based on the name of their twin brother. So those two were pranksters heh? Maybe he could do something to prank them in return. After all, there was no greater reward than driving other pranksters up the wall in sheer insanity...

Once the redheaded twins were no longer in earshot and in his field of vision but knowing they weren't that far yet, he decided that he should get a move on before they were too far away. Harry walked out of the shadow he had hidden himself then he quickly brought his hands into a roughly spherical shape. After a few seconds of concentration, a red sphere of magical energy with Twilight particles inside it was formed and with a low pitch but reverberating sounding grunt of effort, a Scimitar of Twilight similar to the one he had used against the pretty blonde girl blessed with earth powers appeared, floating in the air.

But this time, the lines of light on the sword's edges were an angry red rather than a soft blue. Replacing the blade in the hands of one of the claymore wielding armour suits with his creation, the red angry lines then travelled from the blade, pass the guard, then up to the pommel and soon enough, all over the armour. But they weren't visible for long. After about a minute, the glowing lines had entirely faded and were now visible only on the sword. Now, if Harry had only wanted to terrorize the two pranksters, he would have sicced the now enchanted knight on them without putting much more efforts into things.

A simple and quick Animation Charm with a defined target and basic parameters on how to act "programmed" into the spell and it would have been ready to go. But a real masterful prank was not something potentially lethal if it got out of hand. And traumatizing people with very obnoxious behaviours or with allusions to weird adult things was much more fun than scaring them shitless by making them think that they were going to die in his humble opinion.

So with a quick Colour Changing Charm, the suit of armour was turned a very bright eye watering pink, the ominously glowing red eyes inside the darkened helm were then turned into hearts of a softer pink colour to not clash with the new makeover done to the steel plates. Then Harry began to ponder what else to add. He truly wanted to scare his fellow pranksters and see if they could come up with something challenging in answer to this. Then he remembered a witnessed encounter with a specific male prostitute from Hyrule Castle Town that seemed to had made it his life mission of making Sirius feel extremely uncomfortable with his very presence each time they crossed each others.

After a mad cackle that would surely make Sirius' sense of chaos tingle, Harry didn't cast a structured spell per see since what he wanted to do would take too many of them and some were unknown to him at the moment. He simply imposed his will on his magic and it did the rest of the job for him. Soon enough, the suit of armour was now strutting in a _**very**_ disturbing manner towards the same direction the Twins went to. It was in times like this that Harry wished he could levitate at will like Midna could do when she took her Imp form.

He would love to be a fly on _**that**_ wall when his prank reached his intended victims. Then, to make sure to not get caught, he was just about to teleport away via twilight portal since the castle was warded against  apparition, but coming from the other end of the corridor, he spotted the girls he had been following the day of his arrival. Apparently, the girls hadn't expected to find him here either by the looks on their surprised faces. A strange silence was hovering around the trio, that is until Harry broke it with the very smile that would become quite roguish and his future trademark in a few more years, then said:

"Well, if it isn't my sparring partner of the other day! Did you come looking for a rematch, Miss? If it's the case, just let me call my weapon and I'll humour you in a few seconds! "

Tracey couldn't help but giggle audibly at the boy's declaration and also at how flustered Daphne was acting. The blonde was currently trying to come up with an adequate answer and control her growing blush. Oh she had it bad! Then the boy just had to make it worse by tilting his head on the side in honest confusion. The blue eyed brunette that was Daphne's best friend since childhood also had to force back a squeal since he looked too cute when he was doing that! But before Daphne could bring back her "Ice Princess" mask, there was two very loud identical yelps heard not too far from their position and a weird loud cooing voice that said out loud

"On my gosh! Aren't you two young bucks just too cute?! I could just hug you and kiss you all day long! Come here boys! Come see Sorella! She will dress you up real nice for the coming tea party, darlings!"

"No!"

"Leave us-"

"Alone!"

"Go-"

"Away!"

"Tea Parties are-"

"For chumps!"

"But I can't do that, my darlings! You two are such marvellous specimens of what strapping young lads should be these days! Also, you are exactly my type! Don't tell me you don't enjoy having a pretty girl's attentions on you, gentlemen? Sorella is not an easy girl to impress after all! "

One of the Weasley twins, for Daphne and Tracey knew their voices by now and even then, their habit of finishing each other's sentences was pretty much their calling card, just answered with a trembling and clearly disturbed voice

"Well... there's a problem with your logic, mate... You're not a girl, you are just an animated suit of armour!"

Then there was a very offended feminine sounding huff heard and the same weird voice shot back

"Well, it seems Sorella will have to teach you both just how young men should treat a lady before our tea party. And don't talk back! You are both participating and that is final! Frankly, I'm quite offended by your horrendous manners! I think once I am done with the both of you, I will go speak with your mother about your most unappealing conduct! At least _she_ will most likely set the both of you straight!"

Fred, or was it George?, shot back with a clearly shaken tone of voice

"Well, go be offended by our manners somewhere else then! You're seriously creeping us out!"

During the argument, the trio of pre-teens had made it to where the voices were coming from and it was needless to say that the girls were quite baffled by what they could see while Harry had to bite the interior of his cheek to not bust a gut right there. The modified armour was pursuing relentlessly the now panicking redheaded pranksters around the fifth floor corridors and when they tried to use the now currently moving staircases to get away to safety, the overly feminized enchanted armour simply took a couple steps back before running at insane speeds and power jumping at their pursuit once more, much to their horror!

The armour was then chasing them downstairs all the while promising them cuddles, kisses, new flashy and trendy clothes, pedicures and manicures, all the while brandishing menacingly the enchanted blade that Harry had created to animate the whole thing. The armour suit that called itself Sorella was still rambling about makeovers and new high-heeled shoes when the now out of breath fleeing twins stumbled upon Professor Snape doing his rounds on the third floor on the left side of the castle. The sour faced and ill tempered Potion Master was about to discipline them for running in the corridors and eagerly at that. This time Minerva or Albus wouldn't be able to let them off the hook since they were visibly breaking the school rules.

Just as he was gathering his breath for a good rant at irresponsible Gryffindors he then realized that they were pursued by something quite weird. Suspecting that it was a prank that backfired on them but seeing the armour armed with a very sharp looking sword, Snape decided to save his rant for later and act like a responsible adult should and save the dunderheads. No matter how annoying as they were, he didn't wish them dead for all that. Quick as lightning, the Head of Slytherin House drew his wand and used the general counter-spell at the boys' pursuer.

"Finite Incantatem!"

The spell successfully hit the right breast plate of the strangely coloured animated armour. But weirdly, it didn't end the enchantment. The armour then spoke like it was dizzy

" Oh dear, my poor head is spinning! Running after those two red headed hooligans must have been more exhausting that I first realized…"

Severus was frankly really creeped out by the deep masculine voice trying and failing horribly to sounds feminine that was coming out of the suit's helm. But his feeling of being very uncomfortable would soon grow exponentially. After getting hold of itself, the construct said

"Why hello there! My oh my! Aren't you a sight for those sore eyes?! yum yum, you are one fine looking piece of man! My name is Sorella. What's yours, cutie? "

Looking up the banister a floor above but in a way they wouldn't be spotted immediately, the trio that was composed of Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Harry Potter had to muffle the snickers that were threatening to escape their lips. The horrified look on Snape's face when he realized that an enchanted suit of armour was flirting with him was simply priceless! Soon enough, Professor Snape beated an abrupt retreat by turning sharply on himself, letting his robes billow dramatically, but not after trying his best to immobilize his new unwanted admirer. The Head of Slytherin House wasn't five metres away from his would-be suitor that the spells put on it broke. Literally at that. "Sorella" had sliced through them with it's enchanted blade and said out loud in a rather cattily tone of voice

" Oh my! I hadn't imagined that you were into that sort of things, Sweetness! Seriously, bondage? So soon into our relationship? Oh, you naughty boy! "

Severus was now officially panicking. That enchanted suit of armour had cut through the spells used to restrain it with a few swings of its sword and with such disconcerting ease! The more terrifying thing in all of this? The armour was thinking that he was into bondage of all things! And since the armour had changed targets, the Weasley Twins had rather wisely taken advantage of it by making themselves scarce. Severus could likely destroy the suit of armour, but he had no idea if doing so would trigger something else in the enchantments put on it.

There was also the fact that it was part of the security system of the school in case of invasions. He couldn't just destroy it like that without repercussions. As much as he hated to admit it, he would need either Minerva or Albus' help for this. With that in mind, Severus turned tail and ran with "Sorella" hot on his heels. He was closer to Minerva's office than Albus', so Severus took off in the direction to the Head of Gryffindor's office.

When he was certain that the Potions Master was long gone, Harry simply lost it. Loud laughter exploded from him and he had to held himself against the nearest wall while he was gasping for air. While he had targeted the redheaded twins with his prank, he had not expected to see it change victims but he wasn't complaining one bit. He wasn't alone in sharing the mirth of the situation. Daphne was trying to keep herself to dignified giggles all the while covering her mouth with her hand, but Tracey had no such restrain, since she was laughing herself to tears. Even if the intended victim(s) of the prank had changed, it was still

"Priceless!"

Tracey had been faster than him with her words. But nonetheless, it was true. Snape's face and the Twins' reaction to "Sorella" had been so funny that it was without price. Now that the distraction was out of the way, Harry positioned his hands once again in roughly spherical shape and started to tap into his Twili Shadow Magic to conjure another Twilight sword, but was halted beforehand by Daphne's words.

"Wait wait wait! I'm not here for a rematch! You made it quite clear that you were the better fighter the other day!"

She finished by shaking both her palms from right to left quickly.

Blinking with incomprehension, the young man let his hands fall at his sides before answering once his mind went back on track. Absently, both girls remarked that the sphere of shadow and red light had vanished like it was never here in the first place.

"Ah? Well what other reasons did you have to seek me out then, Milady? Or do you prefer to be addressed as "Miss"? It's the modern term, no?"

While Tracey was smirking at seeing Daphne try to control her blush, the said blushing girl managed to tell Harry that "Miss Greengrass" was just fine. Then Tracey, casual as nobody else, piped up

"Or you could just call her "Daph" like I do. No need for formalities. After your duel against each others a few days ago, we're all friends no?"

Of course, even if Tracey seemed to lack the qualities to be sorted in Slytherin House at first glance, she knew that it was better to not mention Daphne's special powers and Harry's supernatural physical capacities. While she was sociable and relatively nice, she had goals in mind and was not afraid to play dirty if needs be. After all, she was cunning enough to fool the Blood Purists into leaving her mostly alone. Sincerely it was not that bad with the exception of a few barbs here and here about her blood status and her parentage. She had learned to ignore those remarks early in her First Year.

Tracey's interruption won her an "Ice Princess of Slytherin's" glare (trademark still pending) from Daphne, but she shrugged it off easily enough. It wasn't the first time her best friend glared at her like that and it wouldn't likely be the last time either. After a bit of deliberation, it was judged too risky to ask deeper questions about Harry's wandless magical talents out in the open. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was Gossip Central after all, what with the sentient portraits and the ghosts.

In another world somewhere in another reality, Altrouge Brunestud was currently naked as the day she was born and bathing in a literal lake of blood that she was currently absorbing slowly but surely through the pores of her alabaster like skin. When she had contacted her adoptive grandfather, they had met outside Clock Tower to not give the Barthomeloi Bitch an aneurysm since her family had it bad against Dead Apostles. She was pretty sure that the Queen Bitch of Clock Tower had stopped trying to slay Zelretch only because she realized that it was futile since nothing she could do to him would stick. The usual jovial elderly man had only taken one look at her before moving both of them in another reality with a serious look on his wrinkled face.

Once in this war and disease filled doomed world, he then begun to give her a lecture about responsibility of all things! The oddest thing was that for a change, he was deadly serious.

"I can't believe you, Altrouge. Frankly, I am quite disappointed with you. You usually have a more levelled head on your shoulders than that. Well, when you are not a brat with more power than sense. A mortal's lifetime really did you good. You really went to the limit this time, a day or two more of abstinence and you would have most likely snapped and caused a bloodbath. What did you do to get this thirsty? Stopped feeding completely for years until you couldn't take it anymore? Would it have been so hard to hunt once in a while to keep yourself if not full then at least stable? How much energy did you spend to be so in need to feed so soon?! You dropped off the map entirely for about dozen years. I couldn't find you and trust me, I looked. "

Before she could marshal her defences, Zelretch cut her off with a harsh movement of the hand and said in a voice that brook no arguments

"No matter. Now go feed and we will have words when you will be feeling more level headed. But mark my words, there better be a good explanation for this severe lapse of judgment of your part or else we are going to have a problem you and I."

He trailed off rather ominously.

It was in times like this that Altrouge remembered that Zelretch had fought Crimson Moon Brunestud, the first Vampire, her "progenitor" and won. The price might have been high, but there was a reason as to why he was ranked as the fourth of the twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors and she as the ninth. Even if their "Elite and Exclusive Club" wasn't rated power-wise but more for the danger they represented to humanity, he was still more powerful than her. Hence why after massacring thousands of diseased and/or doomed people and improvising herself a bath, her attention was brought back to her honorary grandfather. Usually he would always have that twinkle in his eye showing his mischievous side added to his usual smirk.

But now she could only see the hard stare and the grim look he was showing her. Also he seemed to be ready for anything since he had taken his fifty years old appearance. Last she had heard on the supernatural grapevine, he mostly stayed in his seventy years old form and played the helpless old man card at random to troll people in between traumatizing apprentices. The look in his eyes were a sign that she should begin talking if she knew what was good for her and thus, not caring about her nudity-If you have it, flaunt it (And it was not like her grandfather was interested in her in _that_ way anyway)-she began her story.

How her mortal life as a Muggle-born Witch had been until her "death" at the business end of Voldemort's wand in Halloween 1981. Mentioning how her son was the ideal blend of Dead Apostle Ancestor and Wizard, what with him possessing all of their strengths but none of their weaknesses; what with a supernatural strong and resilient body, access to wandless Wizardry, lack of any capacity for Magecraft except the bare basics (Altrouge's mortal self had been a Muggle-Born Witch and the boy's father had been a Pureblood Wizard, so that might explain the lack of good quality circuits inherited by their offspring since there was no Magus in either of their family trees) and not cursed with a thirst for blood had the scholar in Zelretch quite interested. But the mention of the Twilis, the Twilight Realm and Hyrule, all places and people he had never heard about before now had the Wizard Marshall cackle in sheer delight.

He so wanted to go there right now to meet and troll all those new victims...err... people! To explore those new places! It was so new, a breath of fresh air really! Learning that his own powers weren't enough to travel there on his own was also both vexing and refreshing at the same time. Vexing because, like it or not, the Old Man of the Jewels was quite proud of his achievements and refreshing because finally, it was someone else's turn to be the inter-dimensional taxi! But if Altrouge thought that showing him shiny new things would get her grandfather off her back, she was very wrong. Because he was quick to jump back on the previous subject.

"Now explain to me why you were so thirsty. I know for a fact you fed until you were punch drunk before going forward with the plan to reincarnate as a mortal. You should have been able to stave the blood lust for much longer than this."

The Eclipse Princess of Black Blood sighed quite noisily and then answered if only to have some peace of mind from her pestering grandfather

" I am not one hundred percent sure, but I do have a solid theory as to why I am so thirsty so soon. It's a combination of many things if I am not mistaken. My successful pregnancy, my successful sacrificial ritual to save my son's life from Voldemort's curse and my revival/awakening as my true self after being hit by a Killing Curse point blank likely used quite a lot of my accumulated reserves of power. Also I think I had a few partial awakenings when fighting a few of the more powerful Death Eaters during the Wizarding War, which likely didn't help since my Dead Apostle abilities had to fight my mortal body's limitations without killing me in the process.

And I did not fast during my time away from Earth. Hyrule is not without its population of outlaws, homeless and diseased, what with being a country in the beginning stages of their version of the Renaissance, having only just left behind their Medieval Hyrulian Soldiers can only do so much to keep the peace after all so it's not like my indulgence in the gutter trash brought my family unwanted attention. When human blood was not available, I hunted carnivorous animals in the wild. While animal blood is not quite as potent as the blood of human beings, it can be of help in a pinch."

Hearing that, Zelretch reluctantly backed off. He did not fashion himself as a hero, oh far from it; but when members of his honorary family were straying from the few morals he had to begin with, he made it his business to investigate the reason(s) why. When they were still young and out of Crimson Moon Brunestud's influence, Zelretch had taught the Brunestud sisters the virtue of restrain and gotten them into the habit of doing the best they could to control the blood lust. Especially in this new flourishing age of technology where the Moonlit and Magical Worlds were having even more problems staying undiscovered by the regular populace, calling attention upon yourself by massacring a populous city was not a good idea at all.

Zelretch did not know if a Dead Apostle Ancestor could survive a nuclear missile in the mug and he had _**no**_ intention of testing it. Humans were particularly inventive in the domains of destruction and warfare, he wouldn't be surprised if somebody came up with something that could put down for good any creatures from the supernatural without the use of Wizardry of Magecraft in the near future. Hence why he threw his entire support and all his influence to help the Wizards championing it when the International Statute of Secrecy was first brought up. It was one of the few times Magi and Wizards had put their differences aside for a common goal, even if only reluctantly. They might not have the same methods to ensure the secrecy of Magecraft and Wizardry, but one way or another, it got the job done and it was what counted.

Once that lake of blood was entirely absorbed, Altrouge cleaned herself up magically, got dressed and went back to hunt while Zelretch satisfied his curiosity with whatnots or maybe he was looking for trolling somebody, who knew? She was still rather thirsty and that world was only a few months away from it's total destruction. The Humans here had dug too deep with their new fangled super drill technology or something similar and the core of this planet was now on the verge of catastrophic failure.

Unfortunately for them, their most intelligent scientists in about every field that could matter for the crisis at hand had fallen to either the Global War still currently going on or the plague that was just cured a few months ago and the survivors of both catastrophes were now off world. So their deaths at her hands was only ending at getting ahead of their already scheduled demise. There was some sort of plan to send some people to colonize a new world but since the space ships had already left before her arrival, she was not concerning herself with any moral debates. No, she was here only to feed and she planned to go back to her son's side as soon as possible. She would have preferred having had the time to find Remus so he could keep an eye on the kids in her absence, but it was not to be.

Back in Hogwarts Castle, while Severus had managed to escape "Sorella" long enough to take refuge in Minerva's office, it took the off hand remark of Filius, who was having tea with his fellow Head of House at the moment when Severus rushed in out of breath, about the irregular sword not matching the regular claymores seen on the normal sword wielding armours in Sorella's hands to find a way to end the frankly quite disturbing one-sided flirting session.

Once the strange shadowy looking sword was destroyed, the new enchantments animating the suit of armour pursuing the Potion Master vanished without leaving in prior traces of their presence, leaving the initial ones intact. Thus it was quite easy for the Deputy Headmistress to order the suit back to its original place. Of course, while his colleagues had the tact to not laugh at his misfortune where the students could hear it or in front of him, Severus knew deep in his heart that his misadventure would make the rounds among the Staff sooner or later.

Filius then piped up, hiding his amused smile behind the rim of his cup of tea

"I don't know if we should punish the perpetrators of this prank or give them House Points for such exceptional spell work. I mean, it is no small task to put enchantments over the Castle's defence system without both sets conflicting and then disguising the source of it on something that seemed obvious at first glance but truly was not. It show signs of somebody able to think outside of the box and that this person also possess a certain understanding on how we, adult wizards, tend to expect things to work. I am not an easily impressed man, but this time I truly am. And to think this time the Weasley Twins aren't the perpetrators, but the intended victims of the prank…"

The Ravenclaw Head of House trailed off, shaking his head in a strange mix of amusement and curiosity before sipping on his tea. It seemed that the Weasley Twins had a new rival in the pranks department. And to think that his fellow senior staff members and himself truly thought that things would finally calm down once James Potter and his clique graduated. Oh things were calm for a few years, but then George and Fred Weasley received their Hogwarts letter at their eleventh birthday and both of them now seemed to be trying to outdo the previous generation of pranksters. After a pleased sigh after another sip of his tea, Filius then said to his colleagues

"It seems that we have some interesting times ahead of us. Well, at least we won't be bored."

Minerva had to refrain herself from snorting and answered

"I would rather that we become bored than having to deal with a prank war in between the Weasley Twins and whoever hijacked the suit of armour. Those two won't let such a challenge unanswered. Three more years...just three more years…"

She trailed off while rubbing her temples.

The Heads of House had truly no idea how things would change. With Higher Powers now focusing their attention on certain members of their Society, change was truly inevitable. But would those so inevitable changes be good or bad? Now that is the question. Only the future will tell.


End file.
